 
Mania and the Executioner

Book 2 of The Gods' Executioner Series

Mania and the Executioner

By A.L. Bridges

Copyright 2013 A.L. Bridges

Smashwords Edition v.3

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be sold or given away to others. If you would like to share this eBook, please purchase another copy for each person. If you are reading this eBook and did not purchase it, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this and other indie authors.

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means; whether it is electronic, mechanical, or otherwise; without prior written consent from the author.

This novel is a work of fiction. All likenesses of people, organizations, or events are purely coincidental. All characters, organizations, events, and places are used in a fictitious manner.

I would just like to say that I do not advocate underage drinking; however, if you believe that it doesn't happen, then you are just lying to yourself. Besides, if you're from any country besides the US, then you probably don't consider the age of 18 to be a candidate for underage drinking. Hell, in Denmark you can start drinking at the age of 16.

Other Books by A.L. Bridges

The Gods' Executioner Series:

  1. That Which is Unexpected

  2. Mania and the Executioner

  3. Feros and the Underworld Prince

  4. Cole's Haunting Melody

  5. An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed

Visit albridges.blogspot.com for links to the other books and updates on the latest releases.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

References

Acknowledgments

About The Author

Excerpt from Feros and the Underworld Prince

I dedicate this book to my dog, Scooter, for sitting still long enough so that I could get the shot I needed for the cover of this book.

Requiescat in pace.

Chapter 1: Introductions are in order

[May 19th]

I wake up and realize that both of my lungs are now inflating. I guess my blood can remove ribs from punctured lungs after all. I hear two voices next to the bed.

"Who are you?" Cheza asks.

"My name is Natasha. I'm with The Agency," Natasha replies. This is not going to be good.

"Why are you here?" Cheza asks.

I'm a little shocked that she is talking at all considering that she just met Natasha. It's very unlike her.

"I'm here to support Cole," Natasha answers. I can almost feel Cheza's glare.

"And how do you know Cole!?" Cheza asks, trying to keep her voice in check. Oh, this is really not going to be good.

"Our relationship is... complicated. I give him information... We've been naked in bed a few times... it satisfies me. Frankly, I'm the girl of his dreams! And you must be his little sister who likes to crawl into bed with him on occasion!" Oh, dear gods Natasha! Why!? I hear Cheza make this high pitched noise as she storms out of the room. I open my eyes and see the sun setting outside the window, meaning that I've been unconscious for nearly sixteen hours.

"WHY!? WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?" I whisper loudly at Natasha, who continues to give this sadistic little giggle. Wow... this situation just keeps getting worse. In addition to noticing that I'm in Cheza's bedroom, I just realized that Natasha is a young Tia! Tia... I don't remember seeing any gold flakes around her like there were with Illapa, so maybe she's still alive.

"How is Tia?" I say while trying to sit up, finding that I am unable.

"Easy tiger, you're still really low on blood. I'm just glad I was able to get some help here and thought to bring blood bags. You just had to be AB negative didn't you? Just turn that into a positive and we could have brought any blood... and which one is Tia?" Natasha asks.

(Actually, your blood cannibalizes any other blood that enters your stream, so it doesn't matter what type of blood they use. You currently have 2.8 Liters. Welcome back to the living... Master)

"Thanks Airi."

"Airi told me that you can use any blood type because my blood cannibalizes any other blood that enters my stream," I say to Natasha.

"Well, that's good to know... who's Airi?" Natasha asks.

"Don't worry about it. I have a few questions," I say.

"Shoot," Natasha says.

"What is going to happen with the whole vampire killings and stuff? There are about thirteen people dead. Is The Agency just going to cover that up?" I ask.

"Bottom line? Yes, we are and already did. We had the survivors sign confidentiality agreements with a heavy penalty for breaking it. The back story is that a butane lamp exploded, killing _twelve_ people. Sort of stupid, but so are the masses. There will be a memorial service in their honor and they will become a reminder of the dangers of butane lamps or some such bullshit that the media department will spin," Natasha answers.

"Okay, a little fucked up, but okay. What about the victim's families?" I ask.

"What about them? Someone they love is dead. Do you think they would care how they died now that the perpetrators are all dead?" Natasha replies.

"Point taken. Second question: Why did you block Jason's attempts to contact me?" I ask.

"I'm what's called an Oracle. I can see the future on occasion, but usually not very clearly, or very far ahead in time. However, my vision that involved you was different: it was like I was watching a movie. I saw a possible future where you go to meet up with Jason, Chezarei gets killed, and the world ends. When I saw you in a dream of mine, I realized that was how Jason would contact you. The next week I found myself in your dream, the one with the party, and I blocked Jason. I kept doing it every time I would pop up in one of your dreams. I'm not sure how I did it, but I did," Natasha tells me. I let that process for a few moments.

"Could you please go and get Sara?" I ask her.

"Yeah, sure. We can talk more later," Natasha says and exits the room. Sara opens Cheza's door a few minutes later.

"How's Tia? Is she alive?" I ask before Sara can even enter the room.

"I'm fine, Cole," Tia says from right behind Sara with a huge grin on her face.

"You did good, Cole. I'm proud of you. In fact, there is only one other situation that I can think of where I would be prouder. From what I hear, while Sara and that hot little number were driving towards the cliff, they could hear Illapa screaming," Tia says with Sara nodding in confirmation.

"What did you do to him? Wait, I don't want to know," Sara says.

"Yeah, after seeing your handiwork with the vampires, we can guess! I just hope you didn't sacrifice too much, Cole," Tia says cheerfully at first, before quickly becoming serious.

"What do you mean? What did I sacrifice?" I ask them. Sara and Tia look to each other, and then back at me.

"Cole, why are your eyes silver?" Tia cautiously asks, as though I was going to explode at any second.

"What!?" I say in surprise while Sara goes to Cheza's dresser and grabs the mirror off of the top.

"I don't understand. My Drive said that I won before fading away..." I say with confusion as my silver eyes gaze back at me through the mirror.

"I want to see something real quick. Tell me everything you can about this gun," Tia says while handing me an unfamiliar gun that she pulled from behind her back. I take it in my left hand.

"SW1911 made by Smith & Wesson. It's a .45 caliber pistol that is currently loaded with 15 FMJ rounds. The sight is off by an inch to the left at twenty feet," I say rattling off facts like I'd always known them.

"That's what I thought. Cole, I think that you are stuck in your Drive state but with full control of your mind and body," Tia says. So that's what it meant by 'You are now We'.

"So... why am I in Cheza's bed?" I ask.

"Because there is a dead, headless, naked vampire hooker in your room with the majority of her head exploded all over your bed and walls," Tia says in the same way one might report the score of a football game.

"Chezarei is super pissed at you by the way. She also seems to think you two are engaged..." Tia says, unable to contain her smile. "How did that happen?"

I explain the series of events, leaving out the tendrils and the Mu-cutter because intuition tells me to.

"After restarting Cheza's heart, I blacked out for a bit and when I woke up, my head was in Cheza's lap and she was crying. I tried to say something, but I was unable to and I couldn't make any move besides raising my arm at the elbow so I was unable to comfort her. Then Airi reminded me that the ring was still in my pocket and that I should give it to her because it was now or never. So I held it up for Cheza to take and she said 'Yes Cole, of course I will,' then I died," I explain. Both of the girls are giving me an 'Aw! That's so sweet!' look.

"Alright, and who is the other girl? Natasha?" Tia asks after snapping out of it.

"I've been seeing her in my dreams for the past few weeks, usually naked. She is the one that told me that something bad was coming my way," I tell them.

"Is she the reason Rei stormed out of here a few minutes ago looking really upset?" Sara asks.

"Yeah. In the last dream Natasha was in, I thought I had woken up and when I felt someone next to me, I thought it was Cheza so I told her that she should go back to her own bed. Natasha responded by saying 'your sister sleeps with you? Huh, that's interesting.' And just a few minutes ago, Cheza asked what her relationship to me was and Natasha decided to use that info. After Natasha said we had been naked in bed together and that she was the girl of my dreams, she said 'and you must be his little sister who likes to crawl into bed with him on occasion!'" I recant.

"Hahaha damn that was a good one!" Tia exclaims around fits of laughter.

"I like this girl, can we keep her?" Tia asks.

"Of course you like her! She's you!" Sara and I shout.

"Anyway, do you know of any Oracle class operators at The Agency that can contact someone by dream?" Tia asks Sara.

"No, and Carla said that she didn't know of anyone who had been near the house lately, or even in Arizona," Sara replies.

"Oracle class operators?" I ask.

"They're people that can see the future from time to time and operators are The Agency's name for their field agents," Tia replies and several moments of silence pass.

"So... while I was dead I spoke with Jason. It seems like he's alive, sort of, and needs me to go someplace. He said Cheza would know where," I say. Tia and Sara give each other a look of concern.

"Did he tell you about how his mom is Hel?" Sara asks.

"Yeah, he did," I reply.

"And you think that it would be a good idea to go to a place that the son of our enemy says to, with no consideration that it may be a trap, especially since Rei is involved?" Sara asks.

"I think it will be fine... probably... I mean, it's Jason, right? He wouldn't hurt Cheza," I say as my mind flashes to what he said about the lots of things I don't know about. "Okay, how about Cheza just stays here?"

"We aren't letting you go there alone Cole!" Sara exclaims.

"Fine! I'll ask Natasha to come!" I say. A mischievous smile slowly moves across Tia's face. Sara sighs when she sees Tia's expression.

"I'll call Carla and ask that Natasha be reassigned. Just remember that you brought this upon yourself," Sara says wearily and leaves the room.

"I'll send Cheza in," Tia says, still smiling as she leaves the room.

Cheza comes into the room a few moments later, sits on the bed, and glares at me.

"Cheza?" I ask. She continues to glare. A residual warning light, from a time when man was not the apex predator, suddenly goes off in my head and is telling me to run or I will be eaten. "Cheza, I know you're angry with me, but I need to know where Jason told you to go."

"WHY!? SO YOU CAN RUN OFF WITH BOOBZILLA!?" Cheza screams.

"Boobzilla? Really Cheza? She's a 32D at most," I say while trying really hard not to picture Natasha in a bikini, using her bust to knock over an ant farm model of downtown Tokyo.

(Fail)

"OH SO YOU ARE TRYING TO RUN OFF WITH HER!?" Cheza screams.

"I'm just trying to protect you Cheza, in case this is a trap," I calmly explain.

"YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ME AT ALL DO YOU!?" Cheza screams.

"Come on, Cheza. You know that isn't true. You're just being a little irrational," I tell her.

"IRRATIONAL!?" Cheza screeches in dolphin.

(Double Fail)

That was a mistake. I don't think I have ever seen Cheza this angry.

"TIA? COULD YOU PLEASE COME IN HERE? TIA!" I shout hoping that she gets here before Cheza stabs me and Tia walks in a second later. I should have known that she'd be right outside the door.

"Could you please help me convince Cheza to tell me the location?" I plead.

"Chezarei, tell Cole the location," Tia says.

"NO!" Cheza screeches.

Next thing I know, Shamu will come crashing through the window... or was Shamu the whale?

"Well, I tried!" Tia says while turning on the balls of her feet and walks out the door.

"THAT WASN'T TRYING!" I shout after her. "SARA?"

"I'M STAYING OUT OF IT!" she shouts back.

"Cole, there is nothing you can say that will get me to stay here," Cheza says in a pitch that is understandable by humans.

I look at her and I know that there's nothing I can do about it. I guess I'll just have to protect her again.

"Alright. Let's go," I say, resigning myself to defeat.

I'm glad that we are done arguing because I'm tired. The universe decides that it isn't done fucking me over as Natasha comes bursting through my door.

"Hey sweetie! My boss just told me that I'm taking a paid vacation with my new boy toy! So where are we going?" Natasha asks.

"AHHHH!" Cheza screams and then pounds my chest... and just happens to get one of the recently broken ribs to break again and poke a small hole in my recently popped lung. I simply close my eyes and let it all fade away.

"Cole? Cole, that's not funny... Cole? COLE!? SARA!" Cheza screams.

****

Suddenly I'm sitting back in the booth with Jason, who has two different girls sitting with him this time. I assume they're from his harem, but I don't recognize either the redhead or the brunette. Were it anyone else but Jason, I would have said the word harem sarcastically, implying that I don't think it really exists. However, Jason is one of the few guys that I believe could actually juggle a harem without losing his mind or dying.

"Wow! That was quick!" Jason exclaims while snapping his fingers and makes two flaming shots appear our hands.

"Bottoms up!" Jason says as we both extinguish the fire with our free hands and down the shots. "Well CT, it's been real but try to stay alive a bit longer this time," Jason snaps his fingers again.

****

I wake up to find my right side sliced open and Cheza on my mouth.

"Okay, you can stop now, Rei. It re-inflated," I hear Sara say.

I look over and see her holding a giant pair of tweezers in my chest. She pulls them out, taking a two-inch rib fragment with them. I just close my eyes again and fall asleep.

...

Chapter 2: G5

[May 20th]

I wake up on my left side and notice Cheza sleeping in between my arms that I seem to have wrapped around her at some point during the night.

"I'm sorry I killed you again, Cole," Cheza mumbles as a single tear slips from her left eye to the bridge of her small nose. I reach over and brush the tear from her nose as her eyes start to flutter open.

"Cole! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Cheza cries while grabbing on to me.

"It's alright Cheza. I'm fine," I softly say.

"GOODMORNING YOU TWO!" Tia shouts while barging into Cheza's room. "Hurry up and get ready. I've got a jet waiting for you at Goodyear Airport, scheduled to leave at 10am. That gives you an hour."

"What do you mean you have a jet waiting? For that matter, where are we going?" I ask.

"Private jet and Honolulu, Hawaii!" Tia exclaims. "I've already made arrangements. There is some sort of convention in town so everything was booked except for one, three person suite for five nights. It's under your name Cole."

"I guess I'll go pack—" I start to say while sitting up.

"Already did it," Sara says while poking her head around the door. "Breakfast will be ready in five and then it's off to the airport. Natasha will meet you guys there."

"Why are we taking a private jet?" I ask as Cheza grabs her suitcase and starts packing clothes.

"Because you are going fully strapped and it makes things easier this way. I had Sara ask Carla to make you a badge and papers for The Agency in case you run into any trouble. Natasha has it with her," Tia whispers to me.

I head out to the kitchen to eat bacon and eggs with a large glass of orange juice in an attempt to get my blood back to normal levels. When I'm done, I walk to my room and head towards my bathroom while trying not the look at the complete mess that is still here. Well, at least the naked corpse is gone. I step in the shower and expand my hearing to try to pick up any hints about our trip.

"With Natasha in the picture now, you may need to be more forceful with Cole, Chezarei," I hear Tia say from Cheza's bathroom, over the sound of the shower running. She most likely knows that I'm listening in so I assume that I am supposed to consider this my warning.

"Tia, I don't know if I can do that..." Cheza says over the sound of the shower.

"Do you want to lose him, Chezarei?" Tia asks.

"I'll try my best," Cheza says after a moment.

This trip might be a little bit dangerous for me if I stick with the 'not sleeping with my little sister' plan. I exit the shower to find that my toiletries have already been packed.

"SARA! CAN YOU BRING ME MY TOILETRY BAG?" I shout.

A minute later, Cheza walks in my room wearing only a towel, and hands me my bag. She backs out of my room slowly, letting her eyes linger. I realize that Tia has been influencing her again when I see a copy of Tia's seductive smile on Cheza's face. I'm starting to wonder if the doors in the suite have locks.

I quickly get dressed in my standard jeans and a white t-shirt, but I remember my jacket this time. Five minutes later, Cheza (wearing a hot pink camisole, matching flip flops, and white short-shorts) and I are off to the Goodyear airport, which is only about twenty minutes away. I see Natasha near the gate wearing white short-shorts, a yellow t-shirt with matching flip-flops, and a floppy white sunhat.

"Alright you two, have fun!" Tia says like a mom dropping her kids off at summer camp, but her mischievous smile contorts the image.

Natasha hands me a badge and papers when Cheza isn't paying attention and the three of us walk to the private jet: a G5.

_(No more frequent flier bitch miles for my boy!)_ I hear a famous scientologist say, courtesy of Airi.

I laugh out loud, comprehending the reference. This causes Cheza and Natasha to look back at me in confusion.

"Something just popped into my head. Don't worry about it," I say with a smile.

We board the jet and I love what I see. There's a big comfy couch on the left side and two large reclining chairs on the right. I sit down in the center of the couch and rest my arms on the back as the girls look at the rest of the plane. With my blood levels still being low, I fall asleep in seconds.

...

I'm startled awake several hours later by Cheza, plopping down on my left side and scooting close to me. She grabs my left thigh and gives me a 'Tia' smile.

"We are going to watch a movie, care to join?" she asks as a panel on the wall opposite the couch rolls down, revealing a 42" flat screen.

Natasha grabs a remote from the compartment, sits down next to me, and scoots in while grabbing my right leg, just as Cheza had done and much to Cheza's ire. She starts flipping through the On-Demand movie list, stops on _Some Like It Hot,_ and hits play. That's funny. I just spoke with Marilyn yesterday. We watch for about fifteen minutes before Natasha says, "Wait a second... this isn't a porno!"

I chuckle, garnering a glare from Cheza that says she is going to destroy me, in addition to her digging her fingers into my thigh. What, so I'm not allowed to laugh now? Would she like me to put my balls in her purse too? The movie finishes as the plane hits the runway.

The three of us grab our bags and exit the plane. Natasha and I are stopped briefly at security until we flash government badges that explain the guns and the swords and the bullets. We go out front and catch a taxi to our hotel: The Kahala Resort. Pulling up to the resort, my breath catches in my throat. This place is insanely nice. Gotta love that 'We're with the Gods' package!

While entering the lobby and heading towards the desk, Cheza and I lose Natasha on the way as she goes over to look at brochures near the door.

"Aloha! Checkin' in?" the Samoan clerk asks with a Hawaiian accent.

"Uh, yes we are. It should be under the name Treyfair," I reply.

"Yes, here it is. Reservation for Mista' and Missus Treyfair for five nights. Here is your key. If you need any'tin, just ring the desk. Enjoy!" the clerk says, handing us a single key... Strange.

I enhance my senses, feeling that something is off as I press the call button for the elevator. I hear the clerk say, in accent-less English, "I really hate using that accent. It just feels a little too... stereotypical."

Natasha sees us and joins us on the elevator. We get off at the top floor of the resort and follow the hall until we reach the door on the left.

"1701 should be right..." My voice trails off when I read the placard on the door: 'Imperial Suite'

I put the key in the lock, turn it, and open the door. The entry hallway opens into a living space with a few plush leather chairs and a coffee table. A four-person dining table is in the adjoined room to the left, in addition to the full bar. Behind the bar is the door that leads to the bedroom –the only bedroom— with a California King Size bed... the only bed...

"This has got to be some sort of mistake..." I think aloud.

(Mr. and Mrs. Treyfair. A single key. Tia's mischievous smile)

This is no sort of mistake!

"HOW? HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS COMING!?" I shout towards the ceiling. I can almost hear Tia laughing her ass off from 1200 miles away... or something. Geography is not my strong suit. There aren't even any couches in this room! I walk over to one of the phones.

"I guess I'll call down to the... Tia said that this was the last room..." I say, my voice trailing off.

"And understandably too. This says that this room costs twelve thousand a night! And it also has its own elevator that goes directly down to the beach!" Natasha exclaims while holding a pamphlet that I assume she picked up while Cheza and I were checking in.

"Well, gods are as about as imperial as you can get," I say. I look over at Cheza who is dumbstruck with this wide grin on her face. I hear her giggling while whispering, "Mrs. Treyfair".

"Hey Cheza? Are you alright?" I ask.

Cheza snaps out of it, looks away in embarrassment and then nods. I notice a door behind her at the other end of the suite, next to a bathroom that includes a shower with wall-to-wall jets and a hot tub. I walk over and open the door. It's a secondary bedroom with a single double bed.

I can hear Tia laughing her ass off twice as hard now.

"How about we go get dinner, come back here and try out the hot tub, and then go to sleep. We can leave the visit to that place for tomorrow. By the way, where is it that we have to go?" I ask Cheza.

"Oh... I don't know... Jason just said to go to Honolulu and we'd know it when we saw it," She replies.

Great, thanks a lot Jason!

I put the phone on speaker and call the desk for restaurant recommendations.

"Hello, this is the front desk," the clerk says.

"Hi, this is Cole Treyfair in the Imperial Suite. I was wondering, what restaurants are nearby that you would recommend?" I ask.

"What type of food do you feel like having?" the clerk asks.

"What do you two feel like having?" I ask at Cheza and Natasha.

Natasha says "Hawaiian" as Cheza says "Italian". They start to faceoff with each other.

"You got to pick the movie so I'm picking dinner!" Cheza says.

"I ONLY PICKED IT BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS A PORNO!" Natasha shouts.

"We have a wide variety of pornography in the On-Demand menu," the clerk says, trying to be helpful.

"Reeeeeeally?" Natasha says with a sly grin. At the same time, Cheza shouts:

"WHY WOULD YOU PICK A PORNO!?"

"BECAUSE I WAS TRYING TO SET THE MOOD!" Natasha shouts back.

"WHAT MOOD COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE TRYING TO SET IN AN AIRPLANE!?" Cheza screams.

"THE 'MILE HIGH CLUB' KIND OF MOOD!" Natasha yells like Cheza just asked a stupid question.

"WHA... heh, might actually not be too bad..." Cheza says and then both girls look at me.

My only hope for salvation is to make one of them angry...

"We'll go with Italian. Which place is closest?" I ask the clerk, hoping that it will be within walking distance so we can leave immediately. Any later than that and I'll fear for my safety.

"I'll have the complimentary four course meal sent up, is that alright?" the clerk says.

"I'm fine with that," Cheza and Natasha say.

"Okay, it will be there in about fifteen minutes. Have a good evening!" the clerk says and then it's nothing but dial tone.

My plan has backfired in a major way. My only hope is to get them arguing again... sleeping arrangements!

"Sounds like we have some time. We should figure out our sleeping arrangements and unpack," I tell them.

"Obviously I'm sleeping with you Cole!" Cheza says as though it were already pre-established.

"Well I want to sleep with him too!" Natasha says in a kind of singsong way that implies she is joking. I feel the argument already convening. I'm saved... for now at least.

Cheza opens her mouth to object, but pauses and says, "Cole, who do you want to sleep with?"

I am in a predicament here. On one hand, if I choose Cheza, there is a decent chance that she will try to have sex with me after what I said to her when I was handcuffed. On the other hand, if I choose Natasha, there is a decent chance that Cheza will murder me.

(Agree to sleep with both of them)

"What!?"

(Agree and then when the girls are getting prepared for bed, run to the guest bedroom and lock yourself in)

"That... just might work."

"Both of you," I say with a smirk.

Both of the girls look shocked. Natasha gets this mischievous smile while Cheza's face lights up, becomes angry when she realizes that my answer includes Natasha, and then lights up again.

"Nah, actually I'll pass," Natasha suddenly says while looking at me. Her and Cheza's smiles grow larger as mine falls.

(Oh. This is unanticipated... Well, good luck!)

"You're just going to abandon me like that, Airi!?" I say aloud.

Natasha raises an eyebrow at me, but Cheza doesn't seem to notice from her perch on Cloud Nine while she takes her luggage to the bedroom from the hallway.

"What the hell am I supposed to do!?" I whisper to Natasha.

"Well you love her, don't you?" Natasha asks in a whisper.

"What makes you say that?" I ask.

"The way you look at her mostly. There was also the whole thing in the dream," Natasha says.

"Well, I know that I love her... I'm just not sure if I love her as anything but a sister..." I tell her.

(There is a joke about The Nile not being just a river in Egypt)

"Shut it, Airi."

"Oh... well, good luck wrestling with those feelings while you are sleeping with her tonight!" Natasha exclaims and takes her bag to the other bedroom.

I take my bag into the master bedroom and unpack five days' worth of clothes.

When I hear the knock on the door, I was expecting food. Instead, there is a chef, his two assistants, and two carts full of supplies. The chef walks in the room and goes over to a shutter-style door across from the bar that I thought was just a closet, but actually contains a full kitchen instead.

We have soup, pasta, chicken, and gelato. It is by far the best Italian food I've ever eaten. We also manage to go through two and a half bottles of white wine that are probably a couple hundred bucks per bottle.

"Let's get in the hot tub!" Cheza drunkenly exclaims, but I suppose that would happen if I weighed a hundred pounds... oh and if I hadn't spent the last five months living at the bottom of a bottle. As such, I was hardly even buzzed.

"Yeah!" Natasha shouts in agreement. She's also drunk, though not as much as Cheza.

"I'm going to pass. I'm tired and my body is still recovering," I tell them as an excuse.

"Cooooome on Cooooooole!" Cheza whines. I shake my head in response.

"Okay... I'll be in, in a little bit, alright?" Cheza quietly asks.

"Alright. Goodnight Natasha, and if I'm asleep by the time you return, goodnight Cheza," I tell her with a smile to let her know that everything is fine.

I walk into the bedroom, grab my toiletry kit from my bag, and head into the bathroom. I hear the jets come on in the other bathroom and then it occurs to me that they turned on a little too fast for the girls to have gotten undressed and then put on their swimsuits... which Cheza doesn't have with her because it is in the room.

'Well, they are both girls... drunken girls...' I think with an unsure shrug while brushing my teeth.

_"Lesbian experimentation is the reason girls go to the bathroom together,"_ Jason says in a memory that just popped up.

I walk back into the bedroom and climb into the left side of the bed, closest to the bathroom, and turn off the light. I'm sure it's fine.

(You have the capability to join them)

"I am not going to barge in on two drunken naked girls... I don't have a problem listening in though," I say out loud as I expand my senses.

"Oh my god Chezarei, this feels so good!" Natasha exclaims.

"I know! This feels great too!" Cheza says. I'm sure it's not what I am currently thinking it is.

(Or it is... and you are missing it)

"Sooo not helping Airi!"

"Ooooooooooh... that's nice," Natasha moans.

"I wish Cole were here..." Cheza says. Ugh! This is killing me.

"I know... These jets would probably feel great for a recovering body," Natasha says. Suddenly, this is killing me a lot less.

"So, how do you feel about Cole?" Natasha asks.

"I love him... I just wish he would see me as a woman instead of as his little sister. We aren't related in any way because Uncle Eric didn't adopt him. Really, only in his mind am I his little sister," Cheza replies.

Ouch, that stings a little. It makes me sound mentally unstable!

(Do not worry. You are not mentally unstable)

"Says the voice in my head."

"Well, I know of a few things you could try..." Natasha says and then whispers in Cheza's ear, whispers being the only thing I can pick up over the sound of the jets. Does Natasha know about my extrasensory hearing? Well it's time I stopped listening anyway...

"COLE!!" Cheza screams and I'm out of bed in a flash, grabbing my Sic blade from its sheath by the door.

I sprint full speed into the other bathroom, with a vague sense that I'm forgetting something... As I round the corner, I see Cheza standing up in the hot tub, pointing at something small on the wall. I say something small because I can't see it out of my peripheral vision and my total vision is focused on Cheza's naked breasts.

I would like to take a moment to review what a dumbass I am. I didn't consider the fact that I was running into a bathroom with a tile floor that was most likely wet because of the hot tub. I didn't consider the fact that when running on wet tile, it is difficult to stop at normally, let alone at much faster speeds. I didn't consider that walls are hard. All of these things were taken into consideration after the back of my head hit the tile floor, causing the blood from my mouth and broken nose to spurt almost comically up into the air before coagulating. Reminder number two: Concrete walls are not your friends!

"Cole!" Cheza screams as she splashes out of the hot tub.

"Chezarei, call Sara and ask what we should do!" Natasha shouts at Cheza, whose naked form is the last thing I see before everything goes dark.

...

Chapter 3: That was completely unethical...

[May 21st]

I wake up in the middle of the night, the projector clock on the ceiling telling me that it is 2:05am with an ambient blue glow. To my left, I see Cheza's naked back. After grabbing the covers and pulling them up to her shoulders, I slowly slide out of bed. I pad across the room and quietly shut the door behind me as I walk into the kitchen.

Ah yes, barkeep. I would like a snickers bar and something sugary to drink. Pineapple juice? Sure, why not. I finish off a glass and start to walk back to the room when I notice the light on in the other bedroom. I quietly walk over while carefully listening. I hear Natasha breathing heavily but nothing else (like the sound of a couple of batteries rattling around). Nonetheless, I knock softly on the door first, and then I open it slowly.

"Hey Natasha, are you alright?" I ask as I slowly peek around the door.

Natasha is sitting out of bed, dressed in a tank top and boys-shorts, blanched and covered in sweat.

"Hey Cole, good timing actually. Come in," Natasha says, still breathing heavily. I shut the door behind me, walk over, and sit to the left of her on the bed.

"What's got you all... at 2 am?" I ask while gesturing to her current state.

"Well there are a number of things that could have me sweating and breathing heavily at 2am, Cole," Natasha replies while trying to force a smile.

"Let's just say I had a bad dream... Cole, I need you to promise me that you won't go anywhere without your weapons for the next few days," Natasha adds.

"Yeah. Sure, Natasha. Do you want me to get you anything?" I ask.

"Well, could you help me with my shoulders?" Natasha requests while folding her right leg underneath her on the bed so that her back is facing me. "Could you grab my left shoulder and pull it back gently while you massage my shoulder blade?"

"I'll give it a shot," I say and I do as she instructed.

"Yeah Cole, that's it. That feels great. Now use your fingers to massage the tip," Natasha says. Is it just me or did that sound sexual?

"COLE!? WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" Cheza screams while barging through the door wearing one of my t-shirts. Well, at least I wasn't the only one who thought it sounded sexual.

"Cheza, this isn't what it looks like," I calmly explain.

I'm suddenly very not calm when it becomes sexual as Natasha grabs my left hand, which had previously been pulling her shoulder back, and sets it on her left breast.

"I'm sorry, Chezarei, but he's just so damn good! I can't help myself!" Natasha exclaims while giving an exaggerated moan.

"FIRST A VAMPIRE HOOKER AND NOW YOU CHEAT ON ME WITH BOOBZILLA!?" Cheza screeches.

I would like to tell her that we aren't actually dating or anything so I can't cheat on her, but now doesn't seem like the time.

"No, Cheza! I was just—" I start to say.

"COLE TREYFAIR! IF YOU DO NOT TAKE ME INTO THAT OTHER ROOM AND HAVE SEX WITH ME, I'M GOING TO STAB YOU!" Cheza screams in complete hysterics.

"Airi, a little help here?" I plead.

(Avoid words like irrational)

"Thanks, I got that. Anything else?"

(...Do as she says)

"WHAT!?" I scream out loud.

"Perhaps you should just do as she says, Cole," Natasha suggests.

All of the women are against me! I know! I'll try to channel Jason telepathically! At least I know that he'll have my back.

"What should I do, bro?" I ask.

"You should... do as she says, take her into the other room, and sex her into a coma," my inner Jason replies. I should have known. Jason always has my back, just not in the correct way this time.

As if answering my prayer, my blood sings out to me... from within Cheza. I look at her completely furious face and I remember how she and Tia tricked me into thinking that the babydoll incident had all been a dream. Payback time.

I wave my hand in an arc at her eye level as I block the blood flow to her brain. When she starts to fall, I race up and catch her. I do a quick check to make sure everything is alright and that she won't suffer any ill effects from it.

"Good to go, except for one loose end..." I say as I cradle Cheza in my arms and turn towards Natasha, who looks slightly frightened of me.

"Can you do that to anyone?" Natasha asks warily. I lift my hand and wave it in front of her face as she tenses up and her eyes go wide.

"Haha no, I can't. I ended up having to give Cheza a blood transfusion so my blood is still in her and I just used that blood to block the oxygen flow to her brain a little. I'm hoping she'll wake up thinking this was all a dream," I lightheartedly say with a smile as Natasha relaxes a bit.

"So if you tell her about this, I'll kill you," I sternly tell Natasha after wiping expression from my face. I start towards the door and then stop in the threshold and turn.

"See! I can make jokes too, mine just aren't very funny," I say while smiling at a horrified Natasha who is now completely uncertain of me. Perhaps it's a little better this way.

(That was completely unethical... I enjoyed it)

I put Cheza in bed and then I close my eyes, take my shirt off of her, turn her on her left side, and pull the covers up to her shoulders. I open my eyes so I can get into the left side of the bed without killing myself. See, it's the little details that help you get away with shit like this.

(Shit like blocking the blood flow to your sister/fiancée's brain so you can manipulate her?)

"Well, it sounds bad if you put it like that..."

I can't believe I just did that... what came over me? I turn over to fall asleep, only to have a sex dream about Cheza. Natasha suddenly makes a guest appearance and things get a little weird... until I wake up. I get up and go out to the bar, finding that Natasha is already there and that she is unable to meet my eyes.

"What you did last night was... umm..." Natasha starts to say as I remember the terrible thing I did to her.

"Yeah, I'm... uh... sorry about that. You don't need to be afraid or anything," I tell her.

"Afraid? Why? It felt great! And you showed me a whooole new use for a ping pong paddle," Natasha says. Now it is _I_ that can't meet _her_ eyes. I guess the Natasha in my dream was actually Natasha...

"What are you guys talking about?" Cheza asks while rubbing her head and yawning as she walks in from the bedroom.

"Oh, nothing," Natasha says with a smile.

"How do you feel, Cole?" Cheza inquires with a concerned look.

"I'm fine, Cheza. What were you screaming about anyway?" I ask.

"There was a weird bug on the wall and Chezarei freaked out when she saw it," Natasha answers while Cheza looks away in shame.

"Hey, I need to go to The Agency's local office and check in so you two are going to be on your own for today," Natasha adds.

"Cole, if I remember correctly, I believe that you owe me a date!" Cheza exclaims while beaming. I vaguely remember promising something to that effect as she was straddling me while I was handcuffed to my bed.

"Alright, we can keep an eye out for whatever Jason was talking about while we're at it," I reply.

"Yay! I'll go get ready!" Cheza squeals and then runs into the bedroom.

"Cole, remember what I said last night. It may be a good idea to wear a bulletproof vest or something as well," Natasha whispers seriously.

I nod in response and walk into the bedroom to use the shower, only to hear that Cheza is currently using it. So, I gather up some clothes and start to walk back to the main room, towards the other bathroom. Natasha is standing in the doorway, smiles at me, and then laughs as she goes inside; however, she doesn't shut the door all the way. I think she is implying that I can a) take a shower with Cheza or b) take a shower with her. It's not like I can just wait it out or anything. Perhaps that was just wishful thinking on her part. I walk over and close the bathroom door without so much as a peek in.

"If only I had known that taking a peek would have saved the world from enslavement by the shark people!" I chuckle to myself. It's nice to know that something is so ridiculous that there is absolutely no chance of it happening. I sit down and have a glass of juice with half of a grapefruit.

Then three Shark people break through the front door. That's a shark head on a human body with the possibility of a dorsal appendage, I don't know, I'm a little preoccupied by the rows of teeth. My vision switches to, what I guess is, combat mode so that I can see their auras. Normal white outlines, but their centers are cyan and with a white shark's mouth that is open.

"OH, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!" I shout as I stand, break my drinking glass on the table, and use the shards to slice open my wrist.

I run forward and meet an advancing shark man in the hallway. After dodging the giant snapping mouth that was aimed at my head, I take the broken glass and smash it into his eye. It just occurred to me that sharks don't have necks, so if I can just get around him... I'd walk straight into another set of teeth. Stupid hallway!

While the shark man is preoccupied with the giant shard of glass sticking out of his eye, I form a twelve-inch Sic dagger and stab it into his other eye, wiggling it around to make sure I destroy the brain.

(Legs)

Airi says as a second shark man dives through his dead friend's legs. I respond by pulling the Sic dagger out of his friend, jumping, and spinning around. I slam the blade down through his skull with my landing. Thankfully, there is no dorsal appendage because my testicles would hurt right about now if there were.

(Scoot back one foot)

I obey and a set of jaws appears in front of my face as I notice shark man number three's right arm by my shoulder. I stab the Sic blade into his right knee as I grab his right hand with my left to throw him over my shoulder and into the table. Before he can recover, I launch forward from my crouched position and land on his chest.

"ALL! I WANTED! WAS TO ENJOY! MY BREAKFAST! WITHOUT! ALL THIS! CRAZY! SHIT!" I scream, stabbing him in the neck with each exclamation and consequentially getting red everywhere. "IS THAT! SO MUCH! TO FUCKING! ASK!?"

"Cole?" I hear Cheza ask.

I turn around and see her in only a towel, giving me a concerned look. Natasha is fully dressed and has her gun drawn, but she looks slightly shocked, most likely because of the blood that's everywhere, including on me. I get my first look at Natasha's aura, which I'm surprised to see is a lot like Cheza's. However, Natasha's aura is white on the outside instead of silver and the blue in the center is more of a navy blue, with the same frosty white encroaching from the sides.

"Natasha, cover the door while I go wash some of this red off of me. Cheza, I don't want you getting farther than ten feet from me," I order.

I walk into the bedroom, grab my holster, head into the bathroom, and throw the bloody Sic dagger in the sink.

"Cheza, get dressed in whatever, but wear shoes," I shout into the bedroom as I start stripping.

I quickly rinse the blood off of me and put on a pair of tan cargo shorts, my holster, and my jacket. I wash off the Sic dagger and stick it in the pouch of my holster as a backup, making clinking noises on contact with the metal magazines. Walking out of the bathroom, I see Cheza sitting on the bed wearing jean shorts and a light blue, checkered plaid button-up shirt that she has tied in a knot just above her navel. She is also wearing matching Converses. Good girl. I motion for Cheza to follow me as I head for the door.

"Natasha?" I call out from behind the door.

"Clear," she calls back and I walk out.

"But I don't think we will be getting our deposit back," Natasha jokes, but it's obvious that she's on edge.

"Alright, first thing's first: I need to call Tia. That's a stupid saying. Of course the first thing is going to be first; otherwise it wouldn't be the first thing!" I babble before recovering.

"Natasha, I need you to call down to the front desk and ask if there are any people waiting by the elevator and have them check the security cameras for the beach elevator," I tell her.

There's no way a hotel like this wouldn't have cameras covering the elevator used solely by their richest guests. I pull out my phone and hold the home button.

"Call Tia," I say to my smartphone's voice navigation that shares Airi's name, with the exception of a change in the first letter.

"Heeeeello?" Tia answers.

"Hey Tia, I need to ask you some—" I start to say.

"No Cole, you cannot actually sex someone into a coma. Chezarei or Natasha will wake up in a few hours," Tia interrupts.

"That's not—" I reply.

"IT WAS BOTH CHEZAREI AND NATASHA!? Way to go Cole! I had hopes, but they weren't that high!" Tia exclaims, interrupting again.

"Let me fini—" I try to say.

"You don't have to worry about something like that! It doesn't matter where you finished. Just call down to the concierge and have them bring you a morning-after pill, or two as applicable," Tia says and I nearly face-palm in response.

"The other thing I called—" I say.

"YOU GOT TO TRY THE OTHER HOLE TOO!?" Tia asks.

"WHAT!?" I finally got to finish one.

"What naughty girls! Was it Natasha or Chezarei? If she really is a younger me, then my money is on Natasha. But if it was Chezarei, I swear I didn't teach her that. The other things, however..." Tia trails off.

"I'm hanging up now," I reply.

"Glad I could help, Cole! Talk to you later! Oh, and if they don't wake up in a few hours, check for a pulse and then call me. We'll go from there. You might want to call down to the front desk and see how much bleach and lye they have, just in case things go south," Tia says as I hang up.

I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. That conversation just raised far more questions than it answered. I'll call Sara, like I should have done in the first place.

"Uh, Cole? We might have a problem," Natasha announces.

"What kind of problem?" I ask with my eyes still closed.

"The 'beach elevator security camera is malfunctioning' kind," Natasha replies.

"I'll go check it out. Stay here and guard the room. Cheza, stay in the room," I tell them.

I step over the bodies, go out the busted door, and carefully head down the hall to the left. I get to the elevator and see that it is coming up. This elevator is exclusively for this floor and the floor below it so this could be bad... or it could be some rich kids and their mom. I decide to be prepared just in case, and then I get an awesome idea.

I pull out the Sic dagger and wedge it between the doors to pry them open. This way, if the elevator stops on sixteen, there's no problem. If it keeps going, however... It seems that luck is on my side as the door dings on the sixteenth floor. I'm glad that I can relax now.

"Shit for brains, it's the seventeenth floor, not the sixteenth!" someone in the car says.

Why me? The car starts moving slowly up to this floor and I execute my plan. As the top of the car passes by, I silently step on. I see the emergency hatch is at the back of the car: perfect. I quietly open it as the door dings. I peer in and see three men carrying P90 submachine guns. All I know about the P90 is from video games and in every one that I've played, it kicks considerably more ass than the MP5 and its magazine is also around twice the size. The stakes in this just got a little higher.

They move quietly out of the car as I drop down behind them. They cautiously head down the hall in a 'winner's podium' formation (2-1-3). I step up behind 'third place' near the right wall of the hall and I stab the Sic dagger through his cervical vertebrae, severing his spinal cord completely and cutting off all sound. I quietly lower his body to the ground and move towards my next target. While slowly and silently walking across the hall to the guy on the left, I find myself thinking that the leader is doing a shit job. Aren't there supposed to be hand motions or at least some confirmation that your team isn't way behind you, letting you go on alone to 'feel out the situation' while they smoke weed with some local strippers?

Of course, as I'm thinking this and closing in on second guy, the leader turns around and his eyes go wide with surprise. Now that stealth is out and I don't have to worry about noise or air displacement, I speed up and off number two. I grab the guy, using him as a shield as I rush toward the leader, until something catches me off guard. Looking over my shield's shoulder, I see that the leader has a shark head that I'm pretty sure wasn't there a second ago... I mean, I'd remember something like that, right? They must be were-sharks.

(Congratulations. This has been your redemption for the 'were-bat' fiasco)

The leader starts firing his P90 into his buddy. I throw the body towards him and then dive to the right, pulling out my gun and firing three times. I really wish I had a second gun right now so I could Woo-it-up... oh and some doves. You really can't forget the doves.

Mr. Sharky must not have expected this because his chest bursts from the surprise... or was that from the bullets? Either way, it finished the job and he falls over.

(The intelligent thing to do would be to retrieve the weapons and use them)

"Good idea, Airi!"

I rush back to the first dead body and grab the P90's strap, throwing it around my neck as I search his cargo shorts for extra magazines, finding two. Courtesy of the adroit part of my Drive, I now know that the P90 has a 50 round magazine and fires fifteen rounds per second at a velocity of 2315 ft/s under optimal conditions, which is almost twice the speed of the MP5. Heh, glad I had a shield. I'm finding the same with the second body when I hear Cheza.

"Cole...? COLE!?" Cheza shouts.

"Chezarei, wait! He told you to stay here!" Natasha exclaims.

I see both of them run out into the hall.

"Look guys! I found new toys to play with!" I reply while smiling and holding up a gun.

"COLE!" Cheza screams.

I spin and throw the Sic dagger in Sharky's open mouth and through the back of his neck; however, he still has time to squeeze the trigger. I probably could have gotten out of the way after throwing the knife, but I can't with Cheza behind me and in the line of fire. It just had to be a P90, with its 50 round magazine. The fire rate isn't all that much higher than an MP5. The difference is that in one second, the MP5 empties its magazine so there is no way I would take thirteen rounds to the chest from an MP5 that had been fired previously. Thankfully I'm wearing my jacket.

(That you neglected to zip)

"THAT WAS SO FUCKING NINJA!" I scream with my hands above my head.

(Three, stomach)

"Cole!?" Cheza asks, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'm fine, Cheza! They all hit the jacket you gave me, so thank you!" I answer while dropping the guns and rushing forward to hug her, hoping that she won't notice the bullet holes in my stomach. With the blood seal being a maroon color and since I'm tan, it shouldn't be too noticeable and I can't let Cheza know. However, when I see Natasha's eyes widen, I realize that she definitely noticed.

"Hey Natasha, could you go collect the guns? I need to go wash some of this blood off of my hands before the police show up about the gun shots. Cheza, could you go as well? She probably won't be able to carry everything. Make sure to check that guy's pockets, I checked the other two already," I ask and then jog off to the room.

I think ahead and go to the guest bathroom because Cheza is less likely to go in there soon, or at least before I can clean up the blood that is bound to result from what I'm going to do.

"Alright, Airi. How do I get these bullets out?" I think.

(Jumping Jacks)

She says it so seriously that I almost do it. "Come on, Airi!"

(Fill your stomach up with blood. You will then be able to vomit the bullets out)

I'm about to object, but then I realize that it is actually possible.

"Hey Cole, are you alright?" Cheza asks through the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Can you call Sara and ask her if she knows anything about were-sharks? My conversation with Tia before was less than helpful," I request, hoping that her phone is in the bedroom.

"Sure. I'll go give her a call," Cheza replies and leaves.

I enhance my hearing to make sure she is in our bedroom, and then Natasha walks into the bathroom.

"Cole, how bad is it?" Natasha asks seriously.

"The conversation? Oh, it was horribly uninformative but I learned that if you really are a younger version of her, then you like anal sex," I say with a smile but pain interferes. Natasha just glares at me so I get serious. "Three in my stomach."

"Cole! We need to get you to the hospital!" Natasha exclaims.

"No! If I go to the hospital then Cheza will blame herself for not listening and leaving the room. Besides, Airi says that I can get all three out by filling up my stomach with blood and then vomiting the bullets up," I tell her.

"WHO IN THE HELL IS AIRI!?" Natasha loudly whispers.

"Okay, I'll tell you but don't get concerned. She's this voice in my head that gives me useful information. She also has a wicked sense of humor. I named her Airi because she sounds like the voice from my smartphone," I say. Natasha thinks for a second, and then looks concerned.

"Cole, did Airi tell you to do that thing to Chezarei last night?" Natasha cautiously asks.

"Umm, no... that was kind of all me. Airi actually told me I should 'do as she says'," I inform her.

"Oh, okay... What about that thing with the ping pong paddle?" Natasha asks with a sly smile. "I'll go keep Chezarei distracted, but try to hurry."

(If that girl ever locates a ping pong paddle, you are going to have a dilemma)

Chapter 4: Oh right, that...

I walk out of the bathroom five minutes and 1.5 liters of blood later, as the room's phone rings.

"Hello?" I ask after hitting the speaker button.

"Hello, Mr. Treyfair? It's the front desk. We received a complaint about possible gunfire coming from the seventeenth floor. Is everything alright?"

"Oh, I do apologize for that. My friend was playing a very unfunny practical joke and tossed me a string of firecrackers in the shower—" I say and then Natasha cuts in, playing the part amicably from across the room.

"Sorry about that Cole, but they do say that payback is a bitch!" Natasha shouts.

"I'll cover any damages and I do apologize if we frightened and/or worried anyone and I'm sure my friend is sorry and won't be doing anything like that again—" I say before Natasha cuts in again.

"I won't, but you really shouldn't have done that thing with the ping pong paddle and the baby oil while I was sleeping, Cole!" Natasha shouts as Cheza starts laughing and I chuckle. Being smacked by someone with a ping pong paddle that has been slathered in baby oil would really hurt.

"And you shouldn't have been sleeping with your ass up in the air while not wearing any pants!" I shout back.

"I still wasn't able to walk right for a week! Although, I'm not sure if it was from your prank or that other thing..." Natasha shouts.

"What other thing?" I question.

"You know, that thing with the Belgian waffle mix and the funnel!" Natasha shouts. Cheza starts holding onto her sides while trying to keep her laughter at a dull roar.

"Oh right, that... Anyway, is there anything else you needed ma'am?" I ask the clerk.

"Oh, yes, there is a guest here to see you," the clerk replies

"A guest you say?" I repeat. Cheza and Natasha immediately stop laughing.

"Yes, shall I send them up?" the clerk asks.

"Yes please, and sorry again for the misunderstanding," I reply, ending the conversation.

"Natasha, P90," I demand and she tosses me one. I check the magazine and cock it.

"Okay, just to make sure, no one ordered pizza while I was in the bathroom right? I don't feel like ruining a pizza boy's pants," They both shake their heads. "That's what I thought. Natasha, how is your submachine gun training?"

"Sufficient at this range," She answers.

"Good enough for me. Cheza, I want you to stay in the bedroom," I say.

"No," Cheza simply replies while picking up the other P90. She inserts a new magazine and loads the chamber with seemingly knowledgeable precision.

"Cheza, we don't have time for this. Do you even know how to shoot that?" I ask.

"Aim low to account for recoil when firing on automatic but it would be a better idea for me to tap the trigger because of my size and relative inexperience with submachine guns... Sara would sometimes take me to the gun range in Scottsdale after school and this nice man taught me to shoot. His name was—" Cheza explains.

"Mr. Archer. Say no more," I cut her short. If Cheza ends up hurt because of that crazy gun-running South African, I will be paying him a visit.

"Natasha, I want you and Cheza taking cover behind the bar. I'll take this side of the hall so try not to shoot me," I say from the left side of the hall, near the bathroom door.

I hear the elevator door ding and I motion for them to get into cover. They do so while I rush to the front doorway now that Cheza can't argue. I enhance my hearing and listen for the footsteps of our guest, waiting for them to get closer. I'll round the corner and surprise them when they are about twenty feet away: Fifty... forty... thirty... twenty-five... stopped. Stopped?

"Cole, this is an example of you putting your hearing to good use!" I hear someone whisper.

"TIA!?" I shout in surprise as I round the corner.

"Hey Cole, glad to see you're safe, but it sounds like I got here a little late. Are the other two alright?" Tia asks as we walk into the room. "Looks like you got shot a few times."

My eyes go wide as Cheza shouts from the bar, "COLE YOU GOT SHOT!?"

"His jacket, I mean. Don't worry, Chezarei!" Tia covers, thankfully catching the hint. "So what's been going on? That anecdote I overheard was hilarious by the way. Nice thinking Cole!"

"Thanks. Well—" I say.

"I mean, it was very nice of you to coat the ping pong paddle handle in baby oil before shoving it up Natasha's ass in place of lube!" Tia laughs and Natasha joins her. I swear they have to be related.

"But I didn't know you were so kinky! Belgian waffle mix and a funnel?" Tia says with a questioning look.

"Tia, have you ever had any demigod children?" I ask.

"Why do you... Oh, don't worry Cole! Everything is the same down there," Tia says with a wink.

"Tia, how did you get here? I mean, Cole called you less than fifteen minutes ago," Cheza asks.

"Well, something in Cole's voice made me worried—" Tia starts.

"You mean you could actually hear me!?" I ask with overdramatic surprise.

"So I called Kira and asked if she could port me from the house to here," Tia says while ignoring me entirely.

"What's this 'port' thing?" Cheza inquires.

"It's like opening a dimensional rift or something. Only the heads of each pantheon can port to any plane, but all gods can port to their pantheon's respective planes, with a few exceptions, of course," Tia answers.

"Wait, if the heads can port, then is Loki able to do it now too?" I question.

"Perhaps in another hundred years or so, but a change in power like this has never happened before so we don't really know. He might already be able to," Tia answers.

"So, Kira ported to the house and then Chezarei called asking about were-sharks so Kira is having me audit the Hawaiian pantheon for perfidy and she wants Cole to assist," Tia finishes.

"How am I supposed to help figure out if a pantheon has turned traitor?" I ask.

"I guess I should have specified. Kira doesn't want you to help me with the investigation so much as she wants you to help by being bait," Tia explains. "Basically, you should just keep doing what you're doing and try to find Jason. Any traitorous gods on the islands should come and try to kill you and take Chezarei, so it will all work out!"

"YEAH, FOR YOU MAYBE!" I shout at her.

"Anyway, for right now you have already identified one traitor: Kamohoali'i, shark god and stupid brother to my friend Pele, whom I am taking you all to meet now. Oh and Natasha, you've been promoted to The Agency's official liaison to The Faction. Congratulations!" Tia says.

"Sweet! Do I get my own slave—I mean, assistant? Can I pick Cole!? Come love assistant, and bring the ping pong paddle!" Natasha orders.

"Hehe, I love this girl!" Tia exclaims. There is no way they aren't related.

"Hey Tia, can gods be cloned?" I ask.

"What is it with you and the weird questions today!? First with the sex comas and then the morning after pill and then about how tight I am and now you're asking if you can clone me to have as your sex slave! Cole, if you want to have sex with me, just say so!" Tia exclaims sarcastically... I think.

"NOW YOU'RE AFTER TIA TOO!?" Cheza screams. "COLE, I DEMAND THAT YOU HAVE SEX WITH ME!"

"Chezarei, we should wait until we get to Pele's, she will want to join too. Oh, and don't worry, Cole. Unlike the stories, she won't kill you post-coitus... probably," Tia says.

"I guess I'll join too. It is my job as the official _liaison_ ," Natasha says.

"Hehe nice pun Natasha," Tia comments.

"Why thank you, Tia! Nice job getting Chezarei all worked up. You should've seen it last night when Chezarei walked in on Cole giving me a massage. I took his hand, set it on my tit, and watched the fireworks!" Natasha replies.

"What!? Why don't I remember any this!?" Cheza asks.

"DAMMIT NATASHA! What did I say!? Now come up with a reason why Cheza would suddenly faint!" I yell as I block the blood flow to Cheza brain again. I'm worried that there might be some long term effects if I keep doing this... I catch Cheza before she hits the ground.

"And then he did that," Natasha says to Tia.

"Cole... how did you do that?" Tia asks, looking very worried.

"I told you how I had to restart Cheza's heart, right? Well, last night I discovered that I can control my blood that is still in her so I kinda blocked the oxygen to her brain a little. I was hoping that she wouldn't remember or think that it was a dream like you guys did to me," I explain while looking at the ceiling.

"Oh, okay. Good," Tia says in relief and I snap my eyes back to her in annoyance.

"Good!? I'm forcing her to pass out when having her conscious is too inconvenient! Tell me to stop or that I'm a terrible person or something!" I shout at her, not fully understanding why I'm angry.

"Cole, I thought you were manipulating other peoples' blood now. That would make the gods worried enough to destroy you no matter what. I'm relieved that isn't the case," Tia says, forcing the memory of her crying on top of me while holding a knife into my mind.

"The only reason that you are angry at me is because you're projecting the animosity you feel towards yourself for having done something like this," Tia explains with a gentle smile that seems misplaced.

"You're right..." I reply as I look down at Cheza's sleeping face.

I take her into the bedroom and tuck her in before walking back out into the main room and sitting down in one of the chairs.

"Hey Tia... if I could do something that I thought would make the gods worried enough to destroy me... would you want to know?" I ask and Tia suddenly looks very worried again.

"I should say yes so I can know if you are a threat, but I am saying yes because I want to protect you. Natasha, stop being liaison for the next few minutes," Tia says.

"Consider it done. Can I stay and listen though?" Natasha asks. Tia looks to me, I nod the affirmative, and Tia motions for me to start.

"Well, after Illapa struck Cheza and me with the lightning that stopped Cheza's heart, something weird happened. I just completely lost myself and all I could focus on is how I was going to make Illapa suffer. Then I noticed silver tendrils wafting from my cuts. They speared forward and lifted Illapa up off the ground, immobilizing him. I looked in my right hand and noticed I had made something that I'm calling the Mu-cutter. The Mu-cutter is basically a molecular cutter made of a string of silicon carbide molecules. I walked up to him, relishing in the horror on his face. He asked what I was before I effortlessly sliced off his left arm. Then he called me a monster and said that 'they' were going to hunt me down before I sliced his pelvis in half. Then he said that 'they' were going to kill 'that little bitch' of mine before I slowly drilled a hole through his stomach, getting a primal pleasure from hearing his screams of agony. His entire body was flaking away before I divided him into quadrants and got the idea to save Cheza," I explain, closing my eyes because I just can't handle being able to see what's on Tia's face right now.

"There, it's alright now, Cole," Tia soothingly says as she comes over and hugs me.

"Have you been able to create the Mu-cutter since that time?" Tia inquires.

"I haven't tried. From what Airi said, it uses up 1.8 Liters to make and the tendrils used up a total of 2.0 Liters for eight of them, I think," I tell her with my face against her stomach.

"Could you try and make the Mu-cutter now?" Tia asks while pulling away from me.

"I would, but I'm about a liter low right now. I had to fill my stomach with blood so I could vomit up the bullets and I've regenerated about half a liter since that time. Add another 1.8 Liters to that and I'll likely pass out before it's completed," I tell her.

"Let's try another time then," Tia replies while warmly smiling at me.

I feel that Cheza is waking up so I head into the bedroom.

"Mmm... Cole?" Cheza sleepily asks.

"Hey, how are you feeling? The fatigue must have caught up to you and you fainted," I lie.

"Cole... I know that you manipulated your blood that is in me to make me faint..." Cheza says.

"H-how?" I stammer, slightly afraid for my life.

"For the same reason that I know that you're a little afraid of my reaction, but don't be. I also know that you feel guilty about it, so I forgive you. And I also know that you are low on blood, which most likely having something to do with the reason there are three bullet holes in your stomach that are still healing. Cole, why did you lie to me about getting shot?" Cheza says quietly.

"I just don't want to make you worry..." I tell her.

"Cole, I love you so it's okay for me to worry. I just don't want to be in the dark anymore. Also... why won't you have sex with me?" Cheza asks.

"I, uh... how do I say this..." I stumble along.

"Still see me as a little sister and not as a woman," Cheza answers for me, looking downtrodden.

"I guess I'll just have to work on that," Cheza smiles, but it seems somewhat insincere.

(Can she hear me as well?)

As soon as Airi says that, I feel my mind connect with Cheza's.

"Whoa! Was that Airi!?" Cheza exclaims.

"Cheza, can you hear me too?" I think. Cheza eyes go wide as she nods in response.

"Stay here, I'm going to test something," I think as I race out of the room and down the hall to the elevator. "Can you still hear me?"

"Yeah... Cole, this is a little freaky," Cheza replies in my mind.

"Airi, can you close the link?" I ask and feel the connection between Cheza and I close. "Open it again, please."

"Cheza?" I think as I start walking back down the hall.

"Yup, I can hear you. That's good that we can close it. Being able to constantly hear each other's thoughts would get embarrassing," Cheza replies.

"Yeah it would! We should tell Tia about this," I think as I re-enter the bedroom. Tia probably should know and since this seems like a day for sharing things...

"Wow! That's what happened while I was out!?" Cheza asks aloud.

"What?" I ask.

"I just saw your conversation with Tia from your point of view," Cheza replies.

"Airi, close the link," I think as I shout "Tia!"

"What's up? My guess is that Chezarei can somehow hear Airi and you were testing to see if Chezarei could still hear her if you were far apart," Tia asks.

"Close. Airi can open a connection between us that allows us to telepathically talk to one another and Cheza was just able to see my memory of the conversation that we had a little earlier," I inform her. Tia looks a little shocked by the news.

"Okay, just one more thing that we are not going to tell anyone else, besides Sara," Tia says and then gets a mischievous look on her face. "Chezarei, I have something that I need to talk to you about. Cole, leave."

I really don't like the look on her face, but I do as she says. I'm tempted to listen in but I know that Tia will give me hell for it if I do... or worse: she will tell Cheza. Cheza knowing about my extrasensory hearing is definitely something that I don't want. I grab a glass of juice in an attempt to aid my blood's recovery while Natasha talks on her phone. Cheza and Tia walk out of the bedroom as Natasha hangs up.

"Tia, we may need to postpone that trip to see Pele. I just called The Agency's local office to inform them of what's happened, and they told me there have been indications that a coup d'état has been staged within the Hawaiian pantheon. Kamohoali'i is most likely the leader behind the coup," Natasha says. Tia pulls out her phone and starts texting.

"Okay, Pele just told me that they are having a debate to decide what side to go with in this war. Pele: head of the pantheon and goddess of fire and volcanoes, Hi'iaka: goddess of water and Pele's favorite sister, and Kahoali'i: god of the underworld, are firmly with The Faction. However, Kamohoali'i: shark god and Pele's brother, Ku: god of war and one of four Greater gods, Paka'a: god of winds, and The Poli'ahu: four goddesses of snow, are against us and are throwing their bid in with Loki and the Norse pantheon. This debate isn't just for the Hawaiian sect though. It's for the whole Polynesian pantheon. The stakes are high in this so Kira wants all of us to attend. She told me to text her to port us out if things start to go south," Tia informs us.

"Alright, so when is the debate?" I ask.

"Tonight, at Pele's home in the Halemaumau Crater."

Chapter 5: Aggressive Debate

Tia tells us that we still have a few hours before we have to leave so I decide to fit a nap in to make sure my blood recovers in case I end up needing it. I take off my shorts and jacket, lie on my back, and start to drift off to sleep when I feel Cheza climb into bed next to me. She snuggles in to my left side as she tries to open our connection.

(Mr. Treyfair, you have a call on line one. Should I tell them that you are busy?)

"No, go ahead and put them through. I can stop trying to putt a golf ball into a coffee cup for five minutes. Oh, and Airi?"

(Yes, Mr. Treyfair?)

"When I'm finished with this call, come into my office and help me cheat on my wife."

(Yes, Mr. Treyfair. I'll bring the ping pong paddle)

"Hey Cole, are you asleep?" Cheza thinks, her concern for me is blatant through our link.

"No, but I'm trying to be. What's up?" I think.

"I don't want you to take any chances tonight, okay? You aren't allowed to get hurt," Cheza thinks while sniffling out loud.

"Everything will be fine, Cheza. I'm sure things will work out. You know, I really hate to see you cry," I reply.

"I know, but I can't help it. You've been hurt too much already..." Cheza's thoughts trail off as I feel my chest get wet.

"It's going to be alright, Cheza. I'll be careful. I promise," I think as wrap my left arm around her and drift off to sleep.

...

I wake up alone six hours later at 5:30pm. I put on my armored jeans, a white t-shirt, my holster, and finally my jacket that now has ten circular shapes impressed on it, but still no holes. I remember to zip it up this time. I switch the rounds in my gun to JHP and I holster it before walking out into main area where the girls are already waiting.

"Hey sleepyhead! I was just about to have Chezarei go wake you. There's a helicopter waiting on the roof and it will take about an hour to get there so we should leave now," Tia says.

We walk through the broken door and head right, towards the elevator. Something is amiss but I can't figure out what...

"Where are all the bodies?" I ask, realizing what's missing.

"The Agency's people came by while you were sleeping and hauled them all off. They'll fix the door and the bullet holes while we are gone," Natasha answers.

We go up to the heliport where there is an 'executive' style helicopter waiting for us. Ten minutes after settling in to the comfy leather seats, we're on our way. When we get close, I can see lava spewing out of the Kilauea volcano and into the ocean. We start to land near the crater and I see half a dozen other helicopters that are similar to ours. I also see that there are tiki torches to guide people from the landing zone. My only question is how they stay lit with the helicopters kicking up so much dust upon landing.

"Okay, here is the game plan," Tia announces when we land, but before we have left the cabin. "Keep quiet and let me do the talking. If shit hits the fan, we leave."

Cheza, Natasha, and I nod in response. We exit the helicopter and walk into this cave as Tia and I fall back behind the girls by about ten feet so we can talk.

"What can I expect if things go wrong?" I whisper at a volume that I know Tia will have no issues hearing.

"We will end up fighting our way out," Tia answers at a similar volume. I don't like the sound of fighting that many gods.

"So we will have to fight through over a dozen Illapa's? I vaguely remember breaking a bunch of shit when I fought the singular version a few days ago," I sarcastically reply.

"Don't worry! Illapa was a pantheon head from a stronger pantheon than this one. Our chances still won't be good, but at least they will be existent!" Tia exclaims, looking on the bright side.

"What about in terms of speed and strength?" I ask.

"Since I haven't seen you in action since you merged with your Drive, I'm not sure about you. However, I should be able to match them in speed, except for Pele, and Pa'ka. As for strength, I should be able to match them except for Ku and Pele. However, I am hoping that two hundred years of friendship will mean something to Pele and she will at least buy us time to escape," Tia responds.

"Do any have special powers that are similar to Illapa's lightning?" I inquire.

"Well, most do. Pa'ka can summon gales when outside. The Poli'ahu can probably freeze things at close range so fire a few rounds into each of them before trying to take them close. Kamohoali'i can turn into any kind of aquatic animal, partial transformations too so watch out for shark heads, octopus tentacles, and jellyfish stingers. Ku has no special powers, but he is one of the pantheon's heads and one of the four great gods. The other three great gods are kind of prissy and don't have any applicable combat skills so they aren't heads," Tia replies.

"If Ku is a great, then why is Kamohoali'i the leader?" I wonder.

"Ku isn't much of an idea man, so to speak," Tia answers.

The cave passage is about twenty feet wide by fifteen feet high and goes on for about three hundred yards before opening up into a large cavern. The cavern appears to be made of obsidian and consists of a large, block U-shape table and a ton of chairs, arranged so that the opening of the U faces the tunnel. The center of the U is an area about fifty feet wide by seventy feet long with two smaller tables on either side. The right side has three seats and the left side has eight. We take the first four seats that are closest to the tunnel on the outside of the right leg of the U. A dozen or so of the other seats are already filled with various Hawaiian deities, but I can't figure out where the rest of the Polynesian pantheon is, until I notice that there is a camera in each corner. In the age of technology, people don't actually need to come to meetings.

The debaters enter the room wearing business attire. Starting with the left side: four pacific island women with long white hair and white eyes; a pacific island man (I'm thinking that they will all be pacific islanders) with a crew cut hair, who looks like he is entering a body building competition later tonight; a man with longer, shaggier hair, who looks like he is coming down from a three day crack bender and is tweaking pretty hard; and finally, a man that looks like a slightly less ripped version of the second man, with a shark's mouth tattooed on the left side of his face. I'm guessing they're The Poli'ahu, Ku, Pa'ka, and Kamohoali'i.

On the right: A woman with light blue hair that seems to churn with the changes in light; A man with black skin (not like African black, more like darkness black) and red eyes; and lastly, a woman with hair that is on fire. Wait, actually her hair is just red, but embers float from it as she moves. I take it that these are Hi'iaka, Kahoali'i, and Pele.

They all take their seats and Pele speaks.

"Welcome. We are here today to address the issue of the coup d'état, and of which side we will take in the war. My side is for The Faction and the other side is for the Norse. Let's begin with the first question: Why do you think we should join up with the Norse?" Pele asks and Kamohoali'i stands to address the room.

"Why not create the world anew? There are too many humans, especially on the islands. Also, they are becoming too advanced. Soon they will discover something that makes killing us a simple task," Kamohoali'i says as the Hawaiian deities, and no doubt the unseen Polynesian deities, listen intently and the majority nod in agreement.

"Kamohoali'i, the girl is right over there! Let's just take her, bring her to Loki, he can carry out his plan and—" Ku mentions.

"If you touch her, I will kill you," I say at normal volume, as if stating a tested fact. Ku turns toward me.

"Cole, don't start unnecessary trouble!" Tia whispers to me.

Tia is right of course. I shouldn't be picking a fight with a god unnecessarily, but something inside me tells me that Ku doesn't stand a chance and another part of me is becoming very excited at the prospect of fighting him.

"Boy, if I wanted to take her, there is nothing you could do to stop me," Ku confidently states.

"Let me reiterate. If you lay even a single finger on her, I will destroy you," I say as I pull out my switchblade and drag it across my right wrist, just below my sleeve.

"Are you trying to pick a fight with me?" Ku asks incredulously.

"If you are insisting on trying to hurt Chezarei, then yes I am," I respond with a straight face as Tia stands up, walks over to Pele.

"Cut the video feed, but keep the audio," Tia whispers. Pele looks puzzled but snaps her fingers, causing silk cloths to appear over the cameras.

"HOW ABOUT RIGHT HERE!?" Ku shouts. My nonchalance towards him must be enraging.

"That's fine by me," I calmly reply.

I stand up and start walking towards the center of the room. I form the cylindrical handle of the Mu-cutter and giant globs of blood start raining onto the floor.

(An example must be made of him, the more gruesome the better. It may end this coup now)

"I agree completely, Airi."

Ku stands shirtless in the center area with a Koa short spear that is four feet in length. I can understand taking his suit jacket off, but why did he take his shirt off too? The spear is divided into three sections: 1' for a wooden tip, then 1.5' of shark's teeth, and 1.5' for the grip. It seems that Ku is too enraged to notice the blood splashing from my right hand, or perhaps he sees it and just doesn't care.

"DRAW YOUR SWORD!" Ku yells.

"No thanks, I won't be needing it," I reply.

"Hey Tia, remember that question you asked earlier?" I shout towards Tia, who has returned to her seat, as Ku shouts some sort of battle cry and charges at me.

I'm really glad that he isn't faster than me; otherwise it would be a hard task for me to roll to the left as he passes by, while still keeping up the draw. I back up towards his end of the room so his friends to have a good view. I'm about ten feet from their table when Ku charges at me again. I turn slightly so the spear doesn't hit the zipper as I reinforce my torso and legs, and step into his charge. The hit splinters the tip of his spear and pushes me back about six feet, but I remain on my feet. Ku looks at his spear and then at me with a look on his face that tells me he is thinking 'what the hell just happened?'

"The answer is yes," I shout to Tia as the kite-shape at the tip of the Mu-cutter connects and the shape solidifies with my silver aura.

I slash through Ku's short spear and right hand before spinning low to take him down at the ankles. Ku starts screaming before he even hits the ground.

"You see, one thing I've noticed about you gods," I say as I slice off his left hand. "is that you are really difficult to kill."

"You heal too quickly, but if you cut off the bone," I state as I shorten his left leg to his knee. "you can't regenerate."

I shorten his right leg too before I sever both arms up to the elbows. He's screaming his head off and it sounds like a symphony to me.

"YOU MONSTER! SOMEONE IS GOING TO COME ALONG AND KILL THAT BITCH!" Ku yells.

I flay a foot long strip of skin off his right side so he screams even louder. I watch as it regrows five seconds later.

"Pissing me off is a bad idea, Ku. Did you know that, occasionally, healing quickly isn't such a good thing?" I announce, and then I flay the same foot long piece off his right side again.

"Occasionally, it only prolongs your suffering," Ku starts screaming again as I get this sense of euphoria from his pain.

"I wonder what will happen if I slice open your ribcage and rip your heart out..." I say as I squat down by Ku's head.

"Do you think it will grow back?" I softly ask.

"LET'S FIND OUT!" I ecstatically shout.

I stand and slice open his chest, only to find that it is just a gold mass.

"Woops! I guess you guys have no hearts!" I laugh somewhat maniacally.

"COLE!" I hear Cheza shout in my head as I snap back to my senses. I look around the room and I'm greeted with stunned, blanched, and horrified faces. Tia can't even look at me. I take a deep breath to pacify myself.

"I think it's about time I ended this," I calmly announce.

I slice off Ku's head and his body starts to disintegrate into that gold ash that proceeds to drift upward. Since we are inside, won't it just stick to the ceiling?

"I usually get along with people. However, threatening Chezarei is not something I tolerate. And since Loki is trying to kill Chezarei, joining Loki is also something I will not tolerate," I calmly state while turning away from Ku's body to address the entire room.

(Cut the head off this serpent and end this debate early)

"If anyone, AND I MEAN ANYONE, tries to hurt her or anyone else that I love and/or care about, I will collect your fucking head!" I exclaim with a raised voice as I spin and slice through the stunned Kamohoali'i's neck causing his head to land on the table.

"JUST LIKE THIS FUCKER RIGHT HERE! NOW IF ANYONE HAS ANYTHING ELSE TO SAY, NOW IS THE FUCKING TIME!" I shout, feeling very Tarantino-ish all of a sudden... does this mean that Uma Thurman is going to slice the top of my skull off in like thirty minutes? Do I get a seventeen year old subordinate who uses that awesome chain + razor ball weapon?

"That's what I thought," I quietly say as I walk back to my seat.

Killing gods is a little less satisfying because there isn't any blood, but in a way, it is more enjoyable because I get to play with them for longer without having to worry about them bleeding out... Did I seriously just think that?

"Oh, Cole..." Cheza thinks while giving me a very concerned look.

"How bad was it?" I ask.

She sends me the image of the fight. I watch as my face gets slightly happier with each scream as I hold my silver emblazoned Mu-cutter. When I started flaying Ku, Cheza could feel my euphoria and I can tell that she got lost in it for a little while. She screamed my name after she finally recovered.

"All those in favor of staying with The Faction and not hurting Chezarei?" Pele asks. Unanimous I's. "Alright then that takes care of that! Now everyone clear out."

I stand up to leave, but Tia stops me.

"Wait, Cole. I need to introduce you guys to Pele," Tia says.

"Do we have to?" I ask as I sit back down, disgusted with myself. "I'd like to get out of here before the villagers come back with their torches and pitchforks..."

"Don't worry. This matter is settled for now at least. Nobody saw you besides the Hawaiian sect and all they can say that they saw was you magically slicing Ku into pieces," Tia reassures me.

"What do you mean magically? The silver blade is blatantly in my hand in Cheza's image of the fight," I inquire.

"Wait, so Chezarei can see it too? Cole, I couldn't see anything. All I saw was something in your hand and then three feet away you were cutting Ku up. How are you by the way? You had me worried there... I take it Chezarei mentally bitch slapped you out of it?" Tia asks as the last gods leave the room.

"I don't know, Tia... I just don't know. I got way too much pleasure from his agony. I felt so much euphoria that when Cheza forced our connection open, she got lost in it. I actually found myself thinking that killing gods isn't as satisfying because there isn't any blood, but it is more fun because I can _play_ with them for longer. Maybe what Illapa and Ku said about me is right..." I say as I feel myself die a little bit inside. It feels like I'm about to puke...

Cheza stands up, wraps her arms around my head, and holds the left side of my face to her chest, which actually does calm me down a little.

"Thanks, Cheza," I say while I reach up and grab her hand.

"Awwww!" Natasha says from her seat before Pele walks up.

"Cole Treyfair... that was quite the sight. I don't think we've been formally introduced. I'm Pele, head of the Hawaiian sect and the Polynesian pantheon's representative within The Faction," Pele says while holding out her hand for me to shake it.

I stand and bring my hand up to shake hers, only to find that it is still attached to Cheza. I can almost feel my cheeks flush as Natasha giggles and Pele wears a kind of half smile that seems to ask, "Is this kid a killing machine, or just a love struck idiot?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Pele. Tia has had only good things to say about you," I say, thinking back to the post-coital killing.

"Hahaha it's reassuring to know that you are a bad liar, Cole!" Pele exclaims with a smile.

"Well it's reassuring to know that my terrible lying is reassuring. On an unrelated note, I apologize for killing your brother and for killing and torturing one of the heads of your sect..." I reply.

"Oh, it's fine. They were probably planning on killing me anyway and you gave the entire Polynesian pantheon something to think about if another sect tries something like this. It is nice to meet you as well, Chezarei," Pele says.

"Umm... it's nice to meet you too, Pele," Cheza shyly replies.

"Well, now that this mess is settled, Cole is trying to find his 'sort of dead' best friend, Jason, whose mom also happens to be the Norse goddess Hel. I know, long story. Anyway, can you call Kahoali'i and ask him to tell Cole where the passage to the Underworld is in Hawaii?" Tia asks Pele.

"Sure, I don't see why not. I'll have him text the addresses to you, Cole. What's your phone number?" Pele asks. I give it to her and thank her.

"Well, it's late and we are all tired so we are going to get going. I'll call you in a few days. Maybe we can go get drunk and take half of a dozen guys back here like the old days, eh?" Tia suggests.

"Sounds good! And Cole? Don't feel guilty about it. I would have done the same thing were I in your position," Pele says.

I give a half smile and a nod in response. It isn't so much the act that bothers me as much as my reaction to it. Cheza must have felt my negative emotions because she grabs my hand as we walk down the tunnel and back to the helicopter.

Chapter 6: Confusion and Alcohol

The buffeting of the helicopter blades lulls Cheza to sleep with her head on my left shoulder. I lean my head on hers and fall asleep as well. I wake up when we land and find Cheza to still be asleep on my shoulder so I scoop her up and carry her off to the room. I'm glad that she wore comfortable clothes so I won't have to strip her. I don't really need that level of awkwardness right at the moment. I open the newly fixed door, carry Cheza down the hall, hang left, sidestep around the bar, and finally walk into our bedroom. I am about to set her on the bed when I face the same dilemma I faced three weeks ago, the previous time I carried a sleeping Cheza to bed. Once again I see her steadily heaving chest and her soft lips that are parted ever so slightly.

(Just kiss her)

I'm too mentally exhausted or traumatized to resist Airi's suggestion. When our lips meet, I feel something like a jolt of electricity surge between them as my lips grow cold and start to feel numb. Cheza wakes up and kisses me back while I lay her down on the bed, before lying down beside her. We start making out and she takes off our pants.

(Don't turn on the TV)

I laugh out loud and then I notice that Cheza is laughing at the same time. We are both just lying on the bed in stitches at the joke based on an old Blink 182 song.

I don't know where our actions were headed, but they end with me in my boxers and Cheza only wearing panties, cuddling in bed.

I know that in this moment, I am right where I belong: by her side.

Does this mean that I love Cheza?

(You have always loved her. Back when you were eleven and you woke up to find her crying in your doorway. Back when you were fourteen and saw her bleeding and proceeded to beat that young man into a coma. You have always loved her and you always will love her. It is your fate)

"What do you mean my... fate?" I ask as I drift off to sleep.

...

[May 22nd]

I wake up to the memory of Cheza's image: my maniacal laughter after I sliced open Ku's chest. I feel Cheza's soft breathing as it brushes across my bare chest while she lies topless against my left side. I don't know how I feel about having the girl that I still sort of see as my little sister cuddling with me in bed while topless.

(Your dilemma lies in your inability to see Chezarei as a woman)

"I know. I just don't know how to stop seeing her as a little sister! I mean, we lived together for a decade and I took care of her like an older brother!"

(Did you act like an older brother? How many older brothers let their sister crawl into bed and cuddle with them, even when they were fourteen?)

I'm speechless... thoughtless.

(Not to mention that Eric never said anything that would have led you into seeing Cheza as a younger sister and it would have been normal for him to do so if he had. Eric would have seen nothing wrong with you two being in a relationship)

"Yeah, but he was married to his sister so..."

(Incestuous relationships are part of almost every creation theory. Greek's have Zeus and Zeus' sister Hera, along with all of the Titans. Egyptian's have Shu and Tefnut, brother and sister as well as parents to Geb and Nut, parents of incestuous siblings Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Shintoism has Izanami and Izanagi. Incans have Inti and Mama Quilla. Even Christian mythology has Adam and Eve)

"Adam and Eve weren't brother and sister."

(That is true, but they were the first humans so who did their children have sex with?)

Wow... I'm pretty sure that isn't something that is discussed in Sunday school.

"Wait, didn't Cain have a human wife after he was banished and fled to a city full of humans?"

(So maybe parts of the bible were a load of bullshit, I don't know!)

"I think it's probably more likely that all the different renditions got mixed up in the time before the bible was printed. That's not to say that people didn't change things or just make shit up. Hell, who knows if Jesus was actually male? Some transcriber/translator could have been pissed off and decided to change that. 'My wife was a bitch to me last night so the Saints Josephina and her best friend Mary are now Jesus, son of god, and Mary is getting demoted to Jesus's groupie.'"

(Regardless, you and Chezarei aren't related to begin with so there is no incest. Since you are still having trouble with coming to terms with it, think of it like this: Eric ran the orphanage where you and Chezarei lived. There you two fell in love. You are in no way blood related)

That... actually makes sense... I need a drink.

I slowly unravel myself from Cheza and leave the bedroom. I walk to the bar and start pouring myself a tall glass of rum, pineapple juice, and coconut milk (with less water), that is mostly just rum. I made myself a rum heavy 'chi chi'. I use the name that an animated TV series about four boys from Colorado gave it because it sounds slightly more masculine than Piña Colada.

_(WHY IS THE RUM GONE!?)_

"Sorry Captain Jack! Captain Morgan was trying to mutiny so I drank him!"

"Hey buddy... how you feelin'?" Natasha asks from the table where she is eating a continental breakfast with Tia.

I respond with a grunt—the universal man grunt that says 'it is too early in the morning for us to talk about my mother-in-law' or something of that nature.

"I just had my mind fucked by a girl in my head about the topless girl that is in my bed, so no talking. Only drinking," I say.

"When I heard giggling from your room, I thought you two might be getting it on!" Tia exclaims.

"No, we didn't. Airi made a joke and we both laughed. That is all," I explain.

"Then why is Chezarei topless?" Tia asks with a surreptitious smile.

I think back to last night and where things were going before Airi's joke. I choke on my drink as a response to Tia's question and then my phone answers my prayers for a much needed distraction. I walk into the bedroom and grab my phone, seeing a text message from an unfamiliar number that contains a single address. Only one address? Woohoo! That makes things so much easier! I consider taking a shower but then I realize that I might be able to leave Cheza here if I don't, so I quietly gather some clothes up and start to leave the room.

"Don't think that you are leaving here without me, Cole," Cheza says. "Hurry up and get in the shower while I get ready and don't even consider knocking me out."

I stay quiet and do as she says. Wall to wall jet showers feel great and they really wash your troubles away; troubles like worrying about if you are a maniacal sadist, or the possibility of loving the girl who is almost your younger sist—

"Hey, Cole? Can I come in and join you?" Cheza asks.

"Uh... I'd rather you not, Cheza. I've got a lot on my mind and I'd rather not add to it at the moment," I reply

"Oh... okay..." Cheza says, sounding downtrodden. Great, now I feel like a dick in addition to everything else.

"Don't worry, he'll come around eventually," I hear Tia say to Cheza before the other shower turns on. I jump out and quickly dress in cargo shorts, a white t-shirt, my holster, and my jacket, not knowing what to expect and remembering Natasha's words from two nights ago. I go out into the main area where Natasha and Tia are sitting.

"Hey, are you guys coming too?" I ask.

"Nope, I have to get Natasha caught up to speed on the whole liaison thing, Kira told me to, so it will just be you and Chezarei today. Be careful, Cole," Tia says as Cheza comes out of the bathroom wearing a short cut, blue and white sundress. I'm surprised that took so little time.

"Hey, Cole? Can we walk there if it's close enough? It's a nice day..." Cheza asks in a somewhat timid fashion that is too damn cute.

"Yeah, sure! Let's go!" I exclaim and we start walking towards the elevator.

I just realized that I probably should have looked to see how far away this place is before saying yes. I enter the address into my phone's GPS and, as luck would have it, the location is only about three miles away. We exit through the hotel lobby and start walking down a street that has shops on the left side and beachfront on the right. The sword hilt that is poking over my right shoulder is attracting a few glances in my direction, but so far it hasn't been any cause for alarm. Thank you cosplay enthusiasts/street performers and your numbing of people's sensibilities.

"Ooh! I want to go in here!" Cheza says while grabbing my hand as we pass a shop. She tries on clothes for fifteen minutes and buys this silk skirt thing after modeling it for me. Cheza grabs my hand on the way out and we walk for about a mile before I'm pulled into another clothing store. Cheza finds a pair of sandals that she likes and I end up carrying her bags. About a half a mile later, I feel Cheza's heart pick up as she keeps glancing between a jewelry store and the ring on her finger.

"Do you want to stop in there?" I ask.

"WHAT!? NO!" Cheza screams in a complete overreaction as she yanks my arm down the street.

We walk for a while when I realize that we are getting close and if Cheza needs to run for any reason, she won't be able to while holding these bags. I start thinking that we will have to head back to drop off the bags until I see a building on the beach for storage lockers. Their sign says 'Now proudly serving the CT Channel,' which catches my eye because of Jason's strange explanation when I was dead. Jason also told Cheza that we would know it when we saw it. I pull Cheza across the street and over to the building.

"Wait here for a second. I'm going to put these in a locker in case things go south," I tell Cheza and then I head inside.

There are several rows of lockers, probably numbering up to 300. There is a person working/reading behind a counter. I assume he is there mostly for supervision because these lockers are coin operated. Okay there are three numbers that Jason used during the course of our conversation: 77, or 7 and 7, the drink that Jason gave me and also his favorite; 247, or twenty-four seven, the amount he had been partying lately; and finally 86, or eighty-sixed, the term used to describe us getting thrown out of that bar. It has to be one of those lockers so I look for the one that has the key missing.

They all have the key missing. I guess I'll just choose at random. I walk up to the counter because I'm betting that this guy probably deals in lost and found keys as well.

"Hey, I lost my key on the beach, has anyone turned it in?" I ask.

"What's your locker number?" the man asks without looking up from his book.

"Sixty-nine," I tell him.

Let's face it. This is Jason that we are talking about. The chance of him using carefully coded words and actions during our conversation is highly unlikely. The chance of him thinking about sex at any given time? Highly probable. The man hands the key over while he continues reading. I go down to the first row closest to the door and walk towards the back wall until I reach locker 69. I set the bags on top of the wall of lockers before squatting down to open the locker that is one up from the bottom. Inside is a shoebox-sized package that has been wrapped in brown paper and twine. Considering that nobody has used brown paper and twine to wrap anything in the past thirty years, I'm willing to wager that someone from Jason's harem wrapped this... or its drugs—drugs being something that I've seen wrapped in brown paper and twine, on TV at least.

(Chezarei on line two)

"Hey Cole? We might have a bit of a problem here. Three guys are making a beeline for this building and something is off about them," Cheza thinks while sending me an image of them.

I see three swirls of color, but it is midday and they aren't sparkling. The one good piece of news is greatly eclipsed by the bad. How are they outside though? This is confusing... maybe vampires are just nocturnal and the legends are exaggerations from when some vampire went outside and said "AH! The sun bright! It burns!" like some people I know...

"Cheza, those are vampires and those swirls of color you are seeing are their auras. Now, they are most likely after you," I calmly think.

"What swirls of color?" Cheza asks. I guess she can't see them.

"Never mind. I need you to go down the beach away from them. When they pass by the building, I'll come out and kill all three before any of them know what is happening," I think.

Since you can't slice off the heads of three people in broad daylight, I'm glad I have my badge wi—...not with me. I left it on the bar counter next to the key to the room. Oh well, I can deal with that later.

I can feel Cheza's heartbeat as though it were in my chest and her heart rate suddenly skyrockets.

"COLE! They are going in the building!" Cheza exclaims. What!? Did Jason...

"Cheza, please call Tia and tell her that I need her to get down here with my badge," I think to Cheza as the vampires walk in.

I notice that their skin looks pretty red... maybe the 'bursting into flames' myth comes from the fact that they're so pale that they could get a sunburn while watching fireworks.

"Hey, boy, hand over the package!" One of them shouts.

Did that fucker just make a crack at my appearance? Wait a second, some of the gods have been doing that too! I had just assumed that it's because of the relative difference in our ages!

"Give us the package!"

Even Dagda had called me boyo! Wait, wouldn't he have used 'lad' if he wanted to call me boy? Can boyo be used to address any male person regardless of age?

"Please give us the package?"

Can lad be used to address any male person? Wait, is lad Scottish?

"WE'VE BEEN TELLING YOU TO GIVE US THE FUCKING PACKAGE! ARE YOU DEAF!?" One of the vampires shouts.

"Hey, do you guys know if the word 'lad' is Scottish?" I ask as I put the package back into the locker. I receive three completely perplexed looks and then three thoughtful glances upward. "Oh, fuck it. I can Google it later."

I stand, pull my gun, and fire three JHP rounds (because I neglected to switch back to the WFNGC rounds after last night) into each of their guts because I might not get a kill shot if I shoot them in the head. I sprint forward as I draw my Sic blade, realizing that I'm in the rare situation where I don't have to dispatch these guys quickly. Time to try some of those flashy kill moves! Yay!

I pull off a wall run using the wall to my right, behead the vampire that is closest to the wall, and land on the ground near the door. I jump up, plant both feet on the doorframe, and kick off it, shooting myself towards the back wall as I cut the middle vampire in half. The vampire closest to the lockers, and ten feet from me, has almost recovered so I am going to have to make my final move quick. Is it possible to cut someone vertically in half? For a human: no. For a human with godlike strength?

I run up the lockers and do a backflip off of the top. As I'm coming off the rotation, I swing down as hard as I can. So, can a human with godlike strength slice someone vertically in half? It looks like I can, and it makes me feel all warm and tingly... or it could just be the blood coating that I'm currently wearing... probably about fifty-fifty.

I stand straight and do the 'I stuck the landing!' pose that gymnasts use. However, I can only give that performance a nine out of ten because I wasn't able to cut the vampire perfectly in half. Instead of splitting his brain into its two cerebral hemispheres, I ended up cutting through the vampire's eye. The corpse is still magnificent though—lots of red squirting everywhere. I'm really glad that I put Cheza's bags on top of the lockers now.

I walk over to the stunned vampire that had been lopped in half at the torso. I stick the tip of my sword into his sternum, just above his solar plexus, and I lean on it causing the vampire to start screaming. There is enough trauma at his waist for him to go into shock, but he can still feel pain this far up.

"Now, why don't you tell me why you wanted this package," I suggest.

"GO FUCK YOURSE— AHHH!" the vampire screams as I lean a bit harder into the Sic blade, causing it to pierce his sternum.

"Why do you want this package?" I ask again.

"FUCK YOU!" the vampire screams as he spits in my face.

"Hmm... cock-flavored spit," I say as I wipe it from my face. I smile sweetly as I slice his shirt open.

"That's hardly an answer!" I maniacally exclaim and start flaying him, taking long, slow, strips from his chest. The throws of agony reverberate in my bones as I flay off a total of four strips.

"WE WERE TOLD TO TAKE THE PACKAGE FROM WHOEVER OPENS LOCKER 69 AND THEN KILL THEM. OUR MASTER SAID TO BE CAREFUL BECAUSE IT MAY BE FRAGILE!" the vampire screams.

"Jormungandr?" I ask, flaying off another strip of skin and reveling in the result.

"YES! YES! NOW PLEASE JUST KILL ME!" the vampire screams.

I raise my Sic blade up by my left ear, and then I stop and listen. The police are still a good fifteen seconds away, giving me at least thirty... why not have a little more fun?

"COLE! JUST KILL HIM! Please..." Cheza begs as her voice cracks. Cheza's crying... did I do that? I'm the cause of her tears, aren't I?

I bring my blade through the vampire's neck as a female police officer opens the door, weapon drawn, with a second officer on her heels. I think the male officer is the first officer's partner.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" the first and second officers shout, not in unison because that would be crazy.

"Relax, I'm a fe—" I start to say as they both open fire, the second officer firing first and the first officer following.

I can hardly say I blame them, it looks like a damn SAW movie in here! They are using Glock 17 9mm pistols and each fires three rounds at staggered intervals. I quickly fortify my legs and as I step into the six bullets, knowing that I can't dodge them when the officers are less than fifteen feet away.

"I SAID RELAX!" I yell as they look at me slack jawed, which is understandable considering that they just shot me six times and I'm still standing.

"Now, can I finish what I was going to say or is someone going to shoot at me again?" I ask and the officers shake their heads no.

"Good," I say while I holster my gun.

I take off my jacket and set it on top of the lockers, next to the bags, so I can sheathe my Sic blade. I raise my Sic blade into the air before a third officer with a shotgun walks in and shoots me in the chest upon seeing my raised sword. I was completely unprepared for this and I don't have enough room to maneuver for the capability to dodge the scattered pellets. This results in me taking the full buckshot in the upper chest, a few pellets severing both arteries in my neck. I'm jettisoned three feet backwards and into the wall, leaving a bloody smear as I slide down the length of it.

"COLE! COOOOLE!" I hear Cheza scream in my head. I'm a little stunned by the wall and the two severed arteries, so I don't respond right away.

(Cole, something has happened to Chezarei)

"What!? What happened!?" I hear the sound of a man's scream outside.

(She has entered into the Protector Drive state)

The door blows open and my perceptions speed up to see Cheza ripping the third officer's shotgun from his hands, tossing it across the room. I think I saw frost form on the barrel and the officer's arm is red where Cheza touched it, even on his elbow which Cheza's arm had only brushed against. She runs forward and grabs the two officers' handguns. Frost forms on the guns and the officers' hands recoil from them. Her body is somehow expelling some kind of cold energy and it is causing frost burns to any skin she touches.

Cheza kneels down by my side and assesses my condition as I notice that her irises have a frosty white encroaching from the outer edges, over their natural ice blue color. Her eyes suddenly narrow and I know what's going to happen next because it's the same thing my Drive would have done: she's going to destroy anyone and anything that is a threat to my safety.

I can't allow that to happen.

I know what I have to do... and it's going to really hurt. I grab Cheza and bring her down towards the ground, onto my chest. My skin gets severe frost burns wherever I touch her, which is basically both of my arms and my entire chest. I consider knocking her out by blocking the blood flow to her brain, but what if that doesn't snap her out of her Drive? I call to my blood to have it rush forward and warm her skin, but it is responding too slowly.

"AH! POLICE, LEAVE THIS BUILDING NOW! AAAUGO! AHHH!" I scream. The police officers all vacate the building, my screaming snapping them from the shock of their frost bite.

"AAUGHHH!" I scream as I try bashing my way into our connection.

I feel it connect and my head immediately feels like I have brain freeze. That is so not fair... she gets 'orgasm' when she forces our connection open and I get 'snow cone'.

"CHEZA! WAKE UP BEFORE MY BLOOD STARTS TO FREEZE!" I scream in her mind. I feel my blood quickening in her body and I know that she has snapped out of it. I drag my blood to the surface of her skin to warm it faster because I can't stop shivering.

"Th-th-th-ank-k y-y-you," I say aloud with my teeth chattering. Her body has warmed completely now.

"Cole!" Cheza exclaims as she tries to push herself off of my chest. I hold her down, not wanting her to see what her body has accidentally done.

"Airi! Focus all of my blood on healing the burn wounds. We can deal with the buckshot later. I want this done immediately! Burn my blood if you have to, just heal me before Cheza finds out!"

(It is a little too late for that)

I see tears start to stream from Cheza's eyes.

"The order still stands."

"Oh, Cole... I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Cheza cries.

"Shhh, it's alright, Cheza. I know that you were just trying to protect me," I say to her while trying to sound soothing.

"COLE! WHAT DId you—" Tia shouts when storming into the building, but stops after taking an assessment of the situation.

"So, I'm guessing that the vampires came in and you killed them, getting blood everywhere, and then first officers came in and one started firing, causing all of them to fire, and then Chezarei felt you take the shotgun shell to the chest and neck, and ran in," Tia says.

"Close enough," I tell her while stroking the left side of Cheza's head as she quietly continues to cry on my chest.

"Okay, first question, why were the vampires here?" Tia asks.

"I interrogated that vampire and he said that their master had told them to kill whoever opened the locker and to take the package," I say while pointing to the flayed and bisected vampire corpse.

"What package?" Tia inquires.

"I assume it is the thing that Jason had us come to Honolulu for," I tell her as I point to the open locker that still held the package. She walks over and takes it out.

"We'll open this up back at the room. Let's finish the story back there too. Cole, can you walk?" Tia questions.

"Yeah, no problem!" I say as get to my feet while gritting my teeth as my burned skin protests with every bend while I pull Cheza to her feet.

"I'm sorry, Cole," Cheza says and starts a new round of crying. This connection isn't all that nice when it tells her how much pain I'm in and makes her cry.

"I'll be okay Cheza," I gently reassure her.

(Kiss her)

I do as Airi suggests and succeed in halting Cheza's tears, but then her legs give out in surprise. I scoop her up and carry her, finding that the movement is less painful this time.

"Thanks Airi. What's the ETA on a healed torso?"

(Ten minutes for the burns, and one hour for the buckshot because removing the pellets will be problematic)

"Tia, we need to stop somewhere and buy a large magnet, a car battery, rubber gloves, and copper wire," I say. She opens her mouth to ask why, but realizes what it is for and nods in response.

(Keen thinking. I'm proud)

"Thanks, Airi. I should be able to solve some problems without your help, after all."

"Tia, can you please grab my jacket, the bags, and sheathe my Sic blade as well?" I ask.

Tia does so and I thank her as she pulls out her phone. We walk out of the building and I see Natasha talking to someone, I'm guessing from The Agency. She looks at me (all shot up) and then at Cheza (tear stained cheeks and stunned smile), and cocks her head to one side.

"It's a long story," I tell Natasha.

"Well you have to tell me about it when I get back. Cleaning this mess up is going to take a little while," Natasha says.

"Okay, just make sure nobody loses their job to try and cover this up. The police did their jobs well in the face of such a bizarre and gruesome situation. Good luck!" I reply before walking away.

I carry Cheza to the town car that Tia has waiting and slide into the car with Cheza on my lap.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" Cheza whispers worried.

"Airi, please tell her how long I have until the burns are healed," I request aloud.

(7 minutes)

"See, I'll be fine in seven minutes! Don't worry!" I tell her. Cheza still looks a little concerned and then she kisses me. I kiss her back as Tia gets in the car and gives the driver indication to go.

"Hey Tia? What about supplies?" I ask when I notice our proximity to the hotel.

"I already called the concierge to fetch the supplies and bring them to the room," Tia replies. That explains who she was calling while I was talking to Natasha.

The car drops us off away from the main lobby entrance and close to the beach elevator. I decide to carry Cheza just for the hell of it. She doesn't argue and seems rather content, so all the better. I set her in one of the plush chairs before she pulls me down into it to sit beside her. It's a tight squeeze, but we both manage to fit. Tia sits in one of the chairs across from us, smiling.

"Before we start, I just have one question: why were the vampires able to go out in sunlight?" I inquire.

"The majority of vampires can, they just get sunburned really easily," Tia replies.

"Then where did the legend about them catching on fire when exposed to sunlight come from?" I ask.

"It most likely has something to do with their corpses. Vampire corpses rapidly decompose so whenever one was killed, if checked on the next day, all anyone would find is a pile of dust. So, what exactly happened?" Tia asks.

"I felt it when Cole was shot and when the arteries in his neck were severed. I called out to him and when he didn't respond, something kind of took over for me. The policeman that was holding me back behind the police line suddenly started screaming and pulled away as if he were on fire. Then I sprinted toward the building faster than I ever have and burst through the door. I ripped the shotgun from a policeman and threw it away, burning his arm in the process. I ran up to the other two officers, grabbed their guns and froze them, which burned their hands too. I rushed over to Cole and saw how badly he was hurt. I could feel that I was about to kill everyone, but I couldn't stop. Then Cole grabbed me and held on as I burned him..." Cheza says until she can no longer continue because she is crying too hard.

"Cheza... I'm alright. You barely hurt me and I know it was an accident at that," I tell her.

"Don't lie to me, Cole! I could feel how much pain you were in! It was excruciating and yet you still held on to me! Why!?" Cheza yells through her tears after standing up to face me.

I remain silent.

"WHY!?" she screams.

"BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO TURN INTO ME!" I shout at her and look away.

"I didn't want you to become like me... someone who enjoys killing so much that they can't hold back... a murderer," I explain. I find Cheza's eyes and speak with renewed determination. "I promised that I would protect you, Cheza, and I will. So I will handle the killing and I won't let you become... tainted... like me."

Cheza sits down on my lap, kisses me, and softly whispers, "You aren't tainted... not to me."

I'm about to kiss her back when I remember that Tia is still sitting across from us with this satisfied little smile on her face.

"Ahem... Cheza activated a Protector Drive from what Airi said. I just hope that her Drive is like mine and she only has one," I blatantly state.

"What did you think, Cole?" Tia asks.

"She was certainly moving faster than human levels, but only at maybe half of my max speed. I think that my blood being in her has something to do with it. When I was holding her, I called out to my blood, but its response was sluggish, which leads me to believe that she was either controlling my blood or her circulatory system was frozen during that time. I almost wonder if, though my Drive left me, a part of it still lives on in the blood that was disconnected from me and in Cheza," I tell Tia.

"Well, I think we should train Chezarei. The more control she has over her power, the less likely she will be to enter any Drive state," Tia says. I'm about to object when I hear a knock at the door.

"COME IN," Tia shouts. The concierge comes in carrying a car battery, a large bar magnet, a spool of copper wire, and a pair of yellow rubber gloves. "Thanks, you may leave now."

The concierge leaves the room. I think that the best place for me to do this would probably be the bedroom's bathroom so I stand up, grab the supplies, and I walk into the bedroom. I start for the bathroom but then Cheza blind-sides me and tackles me onto the bed.

"Take your shirt off," Cheza demands.

"Cheza, this really isn't the time... Please Mistress! At least let me get the pellets out of my chest first!" I joke while ripping off my already shredded t-shirt and tossing it in the trash

"Lay still and let me do this," Cheza says and she snaps the rubber gloves on.

"Okay, now bend over!" she jokes... I hope.

She wires the magnet to the car battery and then straddles me. She moves the bar over the tiny holes that I've reopened, but nothing happens. She jabs the bar on to one of the holes, holds it there, and a pellet comes out; however, it also electrocutes me.

"Cole! I'm sorry!" Cheza exclaims. "Should I stop? No, we have to get those pellets out of you."

"Go ahead, Cheza. I can handle it," I tell her.

A dozen pellets later, we hit a tricky one that refuses to dislodge from my chest. Cheza leaves the bar on my skin for almost twenty seconds before it finally comes out.

"Please Mistress, may I have some more!?" I say in a cockney accent, making a sexual sounding parody of Oliver Twist... or at least that is what I was going for.

"There are only six left, Cole. Hang in there, okay?" Cheza says, not really in the mood for joking when she is able to feel the pain she is causing me for herself. Six pellets later, I close up the holes and Cheza uncoils the wire from the magnet, disconnecting the circuit, and peels off the gloves before tossing everything to the ground.

"You know..." Cheza says while wearing a seductive grin as she leans over my chest, moving towards my face. "I kinda liked it when you called me mistress."

"Oh you did, did you?" I rhetorically ask.

"Yeah, I did," Cheza whispers and kisses me. We make out for a while before Tia comes in.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we need to open Jason's package," Tia says. I had completely forgotten about that.

"Right... we should, uh... do that," I say as Cheza gets off me. I stand and hunch forward, trying to hide the straining in my pants. Tia just looks at my efforts and laughs.

"You control your blood flow, remember?" Tia whispers. Oh, right! My straining and hunching cease immediately.

"That will be useful for the opposite as well," Tia whispers to me with a wink and I feel my cheeks get slightly warmer.

We go into the main room and take a seat when Natasha walks in the front door.

"Perfect timing! We were just about to open up the cause of this whole mess!" Tia exclaims.

We open up the shoebox-sized package and inside that package is a 4"x4" package wrapped in silver paper. We unwrap that package and inside is a gold foil wrapped, egg-shape package. We open that, and it's a chocolate egg.

"Seriously? All that trouble, just for a chocolate egg?" Natasha asks. I pick up the egg and smash it on the table. Inside it is a small baggy containing a piece of folded paper.

"Okay, that makes more sense," Natasha says.

I take the paper out, open it up, and a key falls on the table. The key appears to be made out of copper or something and it looks kind of like a display case key. I look at the paper and find that it's a note.

Hey CT, Good job making it this far. Now I need you to go to the last place where your UE worked before the end. You will know it when you see it. -J

"I guess this means we are going to Greenland," I say as I put the key in my wallet for safekeeping.

"Not yet. We need to train Chezarei a little before you two go running off on another adventure. It could be really bad if she can't control her Drive. So all of us are headed home for now. Oh, and the jet's departure time is in two hours," Tia replies.

Goodbye Hawaii.

Chapter 7: Doubt, and the return home

Cheza and I change our bloodstained clothes (me into a new pair of shorts and a white t-shirt, and Cheza into jeans and a red tank top) and pack up the rest into our suitcases. We leave The Kahala by limo and drive to the airport. We board the jet and I assume my position on the couch. Cheza curls up on my left side, putting both of her feet on the couch and resting her head on my shoulder while grabbing my left hand. She falls asleep like that a few minutes after takeoff. Tia moves from one of the plush chairs, comes over, and sits on my right side while Natasha reads a book in another chair.

"Why the change of heart about Chezarei?" Tia whispers at a volume that only I can hear.

"It's actually because of something that Airi said. She spun the situation between me and Cheza in a way that allowed me to stop seeing Cheza as a little sister," I whisper back at the same volume. Tia gives me a concerned look before speaking again.

"Cole, what did Airi think about your display last night?" Tia inquires.

"What? Well, she approved. She suggested that I make an example of him and I fully agreed, thinking that I should be able to end the coup and get others to abstain from them in the future," I answer. Now Tia looks really worried.

"Cole, are you positive that Airi isn't manipulating you?" Tia asks.

"What? No... I mean, I don't think so," I reply but then I think back to the first time I kissed Cheza—that had been at Airi's suggestion. I also remember her telling me to pick up the P90's and my compulsion to do jumping jacks when she made that joke.

"Your face tells me otherwise," Tia says.

"Well, Airi told me to pick up the P90's and I did, thinking that it was a good suggestion. She made a joke, telling me to do jumping jacks when I asked her how to get the bullets out of my stomach and I felt something like a compulsion to do them. The first time I kissed Cheza, Airi had told me to do it and I did so without question... She also suggested that I cut off Kamohoali'i's head, but I was going to do that regardless... I think," my voice trails at the end.

"Oh, but the night that Cheza discovered me giving Natasha a massage and then ordered me to have sex with her or she was going to stab me, Airi told me to do as Cheza said and I didn't do that!" I point out.

"So she's gotten smarter..." Tia whispers to herself.

"What?" I ask, unsure if I heard her correctly.

"Nothing. Just be careful, Cole. It sounds like her suggestions are becoming more influential to you," Tia says.

"Do you think I need to? Airi is just another aspect of my mind, right?" I ask.

"I'm not so sure about that. Since Chezarei can hear her too, I think she might be a personification of your blood," Tia says and then goes quiet. I let the connotations of what Tia said wash over me.

"What if my feelings toward Cheza are all Airi's doing!?" I ask in a slight panic.

"They aren't. I'm pretty sure you've always had feelings for Chezarei, Cole," Tia reassures me.

"That's funny. Airi said the same thing... I'll be careful," I quietly reply, still not entirely convinced that I'm not just a puppet on strings.

What if Airi really is the one behind it? What if everything I've felt towards Cheza as of late has just been the result of Airi's whim? But then again, is it necessarily such a bad thing, even if my feelings are because of Airi? I mean, they feel genuine and they make Cheza happy which makes me happy in return, so is that necessarily a bad thing? But if they are because of Airi, what if her whim changes and she decides that she doesn't want me to be in love with Cheza anymore? I don't want that...

We land at the small Goodyear airport six hours later. Cheza hasn't woken up by the time we have landed so I scoop her up and carry her. I swear this girl is going to be the death of me if she makes me carry her anymore. She just looks too damn cute. I can barely resist kissing her let alone not looking at her while walking and slamming my shin into railings... maybe Tia has a point about Airi and that's why I'm feeling compelled to 'just kiss her' when I'm carrying a sleeping Cheza.

We walk out of the gate where Sara is waiting for us with the car. I slide into the back right seat while keeping Cheza on my lap. Natasha sits behind Sara and gives me this look that is similar to the look girls get when they watch several puppies playing together. We drive home with Sara shooting me amused looks in the rearview mirror. Cheza is still asleep by the time we arrive so I carry her into the house.

"Natasha, I prepared a spare bedroom while you three were in Hawaii," Sara informs her.

"Thank you, Sara!" Natasha exclaims.

"Wait, what's going on?" I ask.

"As liaison, Natasha will be staying with us in the spare bedroom," Sara explains

"Are you talking about Uncle Eric's room?" I ask.

"No, I'm talking about the other guest bedroom. You know, the one that is in front of you when you walk down the hall to either Tia's or my room?" Sara replies.

"That's a bedroom!? I always thought that was a closet!" I exclaim.

"Well, it doesn't have windows or its own bathroom but it is still big enough to hold a bed," Sara says.

I don't understand how I could have not known that we had a guest bedroom since Cheza came and occupied the old one. I decide to not think about it and I carry Cheza to her room instead.

"*Sigh* You just had to be wearing jeans, didn't you Cheza?" I quietly say to myself as I uncomfortably unbutton her jeans.

"That's good enough, Cole. I just wanted to see how far you were willing to go for me," Cheza softly says as she plays with a strand of her hair and keeps her eyes away from me, looking slightly embarrassed.

That's so cute that it's totally unfair. I have this sudden urge to just rip her pants off and throw my head in between her thighs...

"You can if you want to, Cole," Cheza whispers to me. "I mean, I wouldn't mind..."

"I... uh... I... I!" I stammer while slowly unzipping her pants, my body already acting while my mind tries to catch up. I know I don't want my first time with her to be like this, but I'm having a lot of trouble holding myself back. Then, god answers my prayers... well, god _dess_.

"HEY COLE! I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE IN THE BASEMENT!" Tia shouts.

"COMING!" I shout back.

"This will have to wait for another, _better_ , time," I tell Cheza and give her a parting kiss before running out of her room.

I sprint down the basement steps and stop in front of Tia, putting my hands on my knees and breathing heavily, but not because of the run.

"Thank you," I say to Tia.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Tia replies while beaming at me.

"We should make a game plan for that later though," Tia whispers. I'm not looking forward to that awkward discussion, but it seems like a good idea.

"Sure. Anyway, what did you need my help with?" I ask.

"We need to pick out Chezarei's weapon!" Tia exclaims.

"Why would she need a weapon?" I question, worried about what Tia has planned for her training.

"She needs to learn to fight, Cole—" Tia says before I interrupt.

"No, she doesn't because I will be doing the fighting for her," I tell her.

"And what if she falls into a situation where you can't get there in time, Cole? How is she supposed to defend herself?" Tia asks. I don't like it but she has a point.

"I'm guessing that she will work well with two short swords like the kukri blades, what do you think?" Tia inquires.

"I agree," I reply, thinking of all the times that having two swords would have been advantageous for defense.

"Okay, let's get started with her training tomorrow. I'm going to need your help for this, Cole," Tia tells me and something about her tone makes me think that I'm not going to like this.

...

[May 23rd]

The next morning, Tia comes into my room and wakes me up. "Cole, wake up and get dressed in tight fitting shorts and a tank top. Then go wake up Chezarei and tell her to wear tight fitting clothing, like yoga pants and a tank top or something. Oh, and bring your Sic blades."

I do as she says and go to wake Cheza.

"Cheza. Wake up, Cheza. It's time to start your training," I softly say while touching her side and gently shaking her.

"Hehe Cole, stop it! That tickles! I can't go again right now! You need to let me rest!" Cheza exclaims while half asleep.

Her eyes flutter open and she screeches "COLE!?" in dolphin as I get a flash of a vividly erotic dream. I guess those involuntary images work both ways.

"Yup..." I reply while not looking at her. "you are starting training today so Tia says to dress in tight fitting clothing like yoga pants and a tank top or something."

"O-okay... I'll be there in a few minutes," Cheza quietly replies while also not looking at me.

The embarrassment on her face is blatant enough for me to notice it with my peripheral vision. I go to my room, grab my two short Sic blades and my normal Sic blade, and then I head for the basement. Tia is already there, waiting with a kukri blade in each hand.

"Alright, so why did you ask me to bring my Sic blades?" I ask.

"You'll see," Tia simply says.

We wait for about ten minutes before Cheza comes down the stairs wearing a grey tank top and black spandex shorts.

"Now that we're all here, Cole, go and cut Chezarei's wrist open with one of your Sic blades and drain about a liter of her blood into that bucket. You will then follow up by transfusing a liter of your blood into her," Tia explains.

I don't like the idea of hurting Cheza, but Tia most likely has a reason for what she is asking. We walk over to the bench and sit down next to the bucket. I grab the short Sic blade and Cheza rests her right hand in my left.

"I'm sorry, Cheza," I whisper as I drag the blade across her wrist; however, nothing happens. Tia strides over carrying my other short Sic blade and swings it at Cheza's left arm. The blade doesn't do that cool gel snake thing that it did when Tia tried that on me, but it doesn't cut Cheza.

"That's what I thought," Tia says before she takes out her combat knife and quickly slices across Cheza wrist. This one hurts her, and I can feel it. I'm about to get angry and yell at Tia when Cheza squeezes my hand.

"It's alright, Cole," Cheza calmly says.

The cut on her wrist closes up with my blood a few seconds later. Tia flips the knife over in and hands me it hilt first. I'm tempted to grab the hilt and stick her with the knife until Cheza opens our connection.

"No," is all Cheza says before closing our link.

I grab the knife and reopen the wound while telling my blood to leave the wound open for the time being and it stays open this time. I feel Cheza's head rest on my left shoulder during the drain, but I keep going, knowing that she is still alright. After about a liter of blood is drained, I slice my left wrist open and I turn our hands so that my wrist is on top of hers. Cheza looks really pale and dizzy, meaning that she is anemic and I need to get my blood into her as quickly as is safely possible. Something occurs to me that I didn't consider the last time I gave her my blood.

"Airi, can you make sure the blood is clean? So no hormones or anything like that?" I ask.

(That won't be an issue, Master. Your blood will automatically adjust to her chemical balance with no ill effects to Chezarei)

Good, that's one less thing to worry about. After I finish, Cheza has a bit more color in her cheeks, but she still looks a little pale and rather sleepy. I seal both of our wounds and scoop Cheza up.

"We are taking a break," I sternly tell Tia as I carry Cheza up the stairs with her weakly hanging on to my neck.

"Sara, can you please get Cheza something to eat and drink?" I call out to her as I sit down on the couch with Cheza lying on top of me, her back being propped up by the armrest.

"Airi, are you able to give me the status of Cheza like you did with me when we first spoke?"

(Chezarei has 4.9 Liters at capacity, 4.8 Liters currently. She has 1.8 Liters of your blood inside her; however, this does not make her resilient to blood loss like you are. She will be in mortal peril if she loses two liters. She has some accelerated healing abilities, as you have noticed. In all likelihood, your previous hypothesis is correct and she only has a single Drive that is similar to yours)

"So Tia just made me drain her half way to death!?" I scream in my mind.

I feel Cheza grab my hand meekly as I look over to see her weakly smiling at me. Sara walks in holding a sandwich and a glass of juice.

"What happened?" Sara asks as she sets the plate and glass on the table.

"Tia just tricked me into draining Cheza halfway to death!" I shout startling Sara while Cheza slowly moves to sit up.

"What!? How did she trick you?" Sara asks.

"Okay, so maybe tricked isn't the right word... she used my own ignorance to get me to drain Cheza halfway to death!" I rephrase.

"Explain," Sara says so I tell her of the events.

"Why would you agree to drain someone of a liter of blood!?" Sara questions.

"Because I didn't think it was that much! I use up almost twice that just making the Mu-cutter!" I exclaim.

"Mu-cutter?" Sara inquires, looking puzzled.

"Tia hasn't told you anything has she?" I ask.

Sara shakes her head in response so I tell her what I told Tia at the hotel, about my fight with Illapa.

"That is totally awesome!" Sara exclaims with her eyes bright like a child's when they see Santa at the mall. "And the name totally makes sense now! Can you show it to me!?"

"I will sometime, but it uses up 1.8 Liters of blood and I'm already a liter low," I reply.

"Yeah and he needs to be conscious for the next part of Chezarei's training," Tia says while coming up the steps.

"It had better not include Cheza losing more blood!" I pointedly exclaim.

"Nope, or at least not as long as you are the instructor," Tia replies.

"Huh?" I ask.

"We are doing sword training next!" Tia exclaims.

Chapter 8: That was all me...

Cheza finishes her sandwich and we all head down into the basement.

"Okay Cole, you will be using your usual Sic blade. Chezarei, I want you using the two smaller Sic blades," Tia says.

"Why am I teaching her dual bladed fighting, especially with only one blade?" I ask.

"Chezarei, let me see one of those for a moment," Tia says while pointing to the Sic blades.

Cheza hands one to her and Tia proceeds to stab Cheza with it, only to have the blade melt in her hand and reform in Cheza's, just like it would have if Tia had stabbed me.

"That's why," Tia answers. That gives me an idea.

"Here Tia, try that again using my sword," I tell her.

She tries again, but this time, since there is no open hand to go to, the blade just drops to the floor. I guess that won't work.

"Wait, it didn't do that before, so why did you want me to give her a liter of my blood? You could have trained her before then," I say.

"Because, I'm thinking that her power will come out easier with more of your blood. Also, we need to make it so she can use your blood to speed up, just like we did with you," Tia explains.

Okay, that does make sense. It took me a long time to train my blood to subconsciously reinforce my muscles in various ways. I probably would have died a handful of times if I had to think every single time I needed to speed up. Wait a second... train my blood.

"Cheza, think about running as fast as you did back in Hawaii, and run to the other wall," I say with a kind of 'eureka!' smile on my face. Cheza looks confused and tries running, but she goes at her normal speed.

"Visualize it!" I shout after her, which turns out was a mistake because it makes her close her eyes.

Of course, then she speeds up, headed straight for a wall with her eyes closed. Thankfully, I'm still a lot faster than her so I'm able to get in front of her before she reaches the wall. Instead of running into the wall herself, she tackles me into it.

"Good job, Cheza!" Ouch, that hurt... damn concrete walls are out to get me! Cheza looks up from my chest with a slightly confused look on her face.

"Oh! Sorry Cole!" Cheza exclaims when she realizes what happened.

"It's alright, I'm fine!" I tell her.

"Cole, how did you know that would happen?" Tia asks while standing over us.

"It just clicked in my head when I thought about how much we trained and how I referred to it as 'training my blood'. Then I remembered our discussion earlier about how Airi might be a personification of my blood, so I thought that there may be a possibility of my blood already knowing what to do because Cheza can hear Airi," I explain.

"Alright, that makes things easier. Well, let's start training. Cole, use your two Sic blades. Chezarei, you will be using the kukri blades," Tia says while walking away.

"What!? I can't do that, Tia! What if I hurt Cole?" Cheza shouts while jumping to her feet.

"So what? It's not like he'll be hurt for long! Remember how much I would hack him up while I was training him? The only reason we are going about it this way is because I don't want Cole to cut off something I need!" Tia replies.

'Ouch... that really hurt' I think as my head recoils down and to the right as if I had just been slapped. My chest and throat constrict as my stomach feels like a five year old turned it into a butterfly cage. Out of my peripheral vision, I watch Cheza storm in front of Tia and proceed to slap her with tears in her eyes. Before Tia can respond, Cheza just points in my direction.

"Shit! I'm sorry, Cole! It was just a stupid, careless joke! I don't truly think you would hurt me!" Tia exclaims.

"It's alright. Let's get to work!" I announce while standing up, feeling like I'm using only five percent of my lung capacity.

"No... we're done for today," Cheza quietly says.

"Come now, Chezarei. You heard what Cole just said," Tia says.

"Yeah, I did, but you didn't just feel him, Tia!" Cheza shouts, grabs my hand, and pulls me up the stairs and into my room before I can protest.

Cheza slams my door shut behind us and pushes me onto my bed (which is much comfier with the new, not-splattered-with-vampire-brains mattress). I scoot up so my head is on my pillow while Cheza throws herself into my left side. I wrap my left arm around her, setting my hand on her hip as I use my right hand to brush away a tear that was rolling from her left eye on to her nose.

"I'm fine, Cheza," I tell her, trying to sound as convincing as possible and hoping my emotions follow suit.

"No you aren't, Cole. It's no use trying to lie to me when I can feel how badly that hurt you..." Cheza says while turning her face down towards my shirt so I wouldn't see her crying.

"You feel so empty... it hurts me to be connected with you when you feel like this. I want to fill this void, but I don't know—" Cheza says, choking up while muffled by my dampened shirt. After she breathes a few times, she turns her head and looks up at me.

"Tell me what I can do to make you stop feeling so hollow..." Cheza begs. I bend my head down and kiss her forehead.

"Just you lying here is enough," I reply and shut my eyes for a while.

...

A long while apparently, because when I wake up, it's dark outside and Cheza is no longer beside me. It feels kind of cold... I get out of bed and walk into the kitchen, only to find that no one is home. I hear a voice coming from down Sara and Tia's hall.

"Yes... According to the reports, it sounds like he is starting to get pleasure from it... Yes, I think that it's possible that he's being influenced..." Sara says. I try to pick up the voice of the other person, but no matter how hard I push, I can't hear the speaker of the phone.

"They seem closer now... Yes... Yes, it does seem that he finally came to his senses... I think that influence is also a possibility in this as well... No, it sounds like they are headed to Greenland next..." Sara continues.

My mind flashes back to The Kahala hotel. How had the were-sharks and/or Kamohoali'i known where we were? Oh Sara, don't tell me that you... I need to find out who she is talking to!

(Knives on the rack. Ask while holding it to her neck to frighten the truth from her)

I grab a medium sized chef's knife from the magnetic rack on the wall and walk silently down the hall.

"I agree. It still isn't time yet..."

I'll wait until she gets off of the phone, and I'll knock on her door.

"Yes, I'll keep you updated..."

When she opens the door, I'll quickly pull the blade up to the left side of her neck.

"Alright, the others will be home soon and Cole will be awake..."

I'll press the blade in hard enough to draw blood to exemplify my seriousness.

"I really have to go start dinner now..."

Once I have the information that I need, I'll quickly slice through her jugular.

"Okay... I love you too, bye," Sara says and ends the call as I hear my phone start to ring in my bedroom.

What was I just about to do? Was I going to kill Sara? Did I really just imagine myself sliding this knife through Sara's throat? I imagine her horrified expression, the same one she had when she saw what I did to Illapa's vampires, permanently frozen on her face with her death.

The gravity of what I almost did hits me and I take off in a full speed sprint to my bathroom. I throw the door open, go past the cabinet sink on the right, and turn right while dropping to my knees. I'm able to open the toilet seat just as vomit flies from my mouth while the knife clatters on the tile floor. About a minute later, I fall backwards over my feet, my head and shoulders slamming into the wall behind me. I rest my left arm on my propped-up left knee while grabbing both of my temples with my right hand as my body starts to go numb.

I hear the front door get thrown open as someone runs inside the house, followed by footsteps pounding against the tile in the hallway. Cheza comes around the corner and drops to my side as she grabs my head and pulls me into her chest.

"Cole! Cole, what's wrong!?" Cheza frantically asks. I'm unable to speak so I open our link.

"I think I almost just killed Sara..." I tell her while staring wide-eyed at the knife on the floor.

"I just saw it. Don't worry, Cole. We'll get this straightened out later," Cheza thinks while referring to an image I must have sent her unintentionally.

"I was going to kill her once I had the information... If my phone hadn't started ringing, I would have... I would have..." I think as I wrap my arms around Cheza's waist. She sits there with me for the duration that it takes me to calm down.

"I'll be right back," Cheza thinks as she stands and walks out of the bathroom.

"Tia! Come in here and apologize to Cole!" Cheza shouts from down the hallway. I hear them both head into the room, shut my door, and walk into the bathroom.

"What happened?" Tia quietly asks when she sees my state and the knife on the floor.

"Sara was talking to someone on the phone. When she mentioned Greenland, Cole realized that he needed to find out who she was talking to. That led him to grabbing a knife, planning to extract the information from Sara, followed by killing her," Cheza explains for me, filling in the blanks that the image must've left with what I told her.

"Cole, was it Airi?" Tia asks.

"She suggested that I use a knife and hold it to Sara's neck to get the truth from her, but pressing the knife into her neck until it bled to show her I was serious and killing her after I had the information? That was just me..." I whisper.

"Please Tia! Just kill me before I hurt Cheza or you or Sara or Nata—" is as far as I get before Cheza backhands me so hard that she knocks two of my right molars loose. I think she also broke her right middle finger.

"Cole, if you ever speak that way again, I will make sure that you watch me die first before you get to," Cheza says in a flat tone while shaking and I realize that she is so angry that she can no longer scream. I know exactly what to say in this situation: Nothing.

"If you two go pulling a Romeo and Juliet on me, I am going to be so pissed! Henceforth, both of you are forbidden from talking to any friars or entering any apothecaries," Tia declares and we all chuckle a little bit.

"Cheza, let me see your right hand," I say as I stand up, able to notice the swelling already. My own right hand also feels like it's throbbing a bit.

"No," Cheza replies.

"Cheza..." I say.

"N—" she starts before I interrupt her with a kiss while grabbing her right hand.

"OW!" Cheza exclaims into my mouth. I break the kiss, pick up the knife, slash open my left hand and make a small incision in her right middle finger.

"Airi, you know what to do."

(Yeah, yeah)

My blood streams into her right hand and accelerates the mending of her bone _. (5.6 Liters remaining)_

"Hey Tia! Have you seen the medium sized chef's knife?" Sara shouts from the kitchen.

"NO I HAVEN'T!" Tia replies.

"By the way, where were you two with Natasha?" I ask while desperately trying to get my mind off the current subject.

"We were running some errands. We were actually headed back here when Chezarei told me to drive faster, saying that something was happening to you. That's when I told her to call you and when you didn't answer, I picked up the speed to eighty and got us here about a minute later. Chezarei didn't even wait for the car to fully stop before she jumped out and ran to you," Tia explains.

"Anyway, let's head out there. I'm going to sneak into Sara's room and look at the call history to see who she's been talking to. I need one of you guys to distract her," Tia says.

"I'll do it," Cheza volunteers.

"No, I will. I have something I need to talk to her about anyway," I say.

"Are you sure, Cole?" Cheza asks, concerned. I nod in response.

"Alright, let's go," Tia says and we walk out to the kitchen.

Chapter 9: Who needs barbiturates when you've got _style_?

"Hey Sara, I need to talk to you about something. Is now a good time?" I ask.

"Sure, I just have to let this simmer anyway. What's up?" Sara inquires.

"I want Cheza to have a plated jacket. How long would it take you to plate something like a North Face fleece jacket for her?" I ask.

"I could probably sew one together in less than a week if I'm provided with all the plates," Sara replies.

"Okay, I'll make the plates. I also want a hat or hood to be plated too. How could we go about doing this?" I ask.

"A malleable hat or hood? I could probably plate it the same way as the jacket, but it won't have the same shock absorbing tendencies and it will probably be useless against any heavy arms fire," Sara informs me.

"Okay, I'll go to the mall tomorrow and try to find Cheza a hat and/or jacket. Next topic, I need a new holster, or we may be able to modify my current one. I'd like to make the pouch detachable and have a spot for a Sic dagger... I guess that making a sheath for one would be smart... So a spot to attach a sheath for a Sic dagger," I tell Sara.

"Whoa! Where is all this coming from?" Sara asks.

"Well I was thinking that, with a detachable pouch, I could still be armed even if it calls for a situation where walking around with a sword sticking out of my jacket attracts some attention. Oh, and I'll need a spot for a detachable silencer for my gun... or maybe I'll just make the silencer permanent, in which case, I will need a longer gun holster on the pouch," I ramble.

"Ask Tia about the silencer and then talk to me, but as for a new pouch, I've been working on an idea that I'll show you after dinner," Sara says.

Cheza, Natasha, and Tia are already sitting at the table when I walk over. Tia sends me a wink across the table as Sara starts serving the chicken alfredo that she made.

"Cole, didn't you need to talk to me about something in the armory?" Tia asks.

"Yeah, I do. Shall we head down there after dinner?" I suggest.

"That works," Tia replies.

"Sara, is it alright if I see the holster design after? Since it is going to heavily depend on a silencer, it would be a good idea to figure that out before we make modifications," I say.

"Yes, that's fine, Cole," Sara responds.

The rest of dinner goes on in relative silence. After Tia and I clean up our dishes, we walk down to the armory.

"So I figured out who Sara was talking to. It was her mom, Saraswati," Tia says.

"So I almost killed Sara for talking to her mother..." I say while taking a steep spiral into despair.

"It's most likely okay, but it could also mean that someone in the Buddhist or Hindu pantheons has turned," Tia says.

"Buddhist or Hindu?" I ask.

"Saraswati is a prominent figure in both of them. There are so many deities in both pantheons that it gets complicated. Last I heard, the consensus among them is to remain neutral in all this and should the world end, so be it. However, Saraswati has taken an active interest in this for some unknown reason and holds a spot in The Faction. I'll look into it some more and I'll keep an eye on Sara," Tia informs me.

"Yeah... okay," I reply, still feeling like shit, and then I remember what I needed to ask her.

"Hey Tia, how do silencers work?" I ask.

"They decrease the pressure being forced through the barrel by increasing the volume of the barrel with the added attachment. Why? Do you want to make one?" Tia asks.

"Yeah. The situation with the were-sharks made me wish I had one because I ended up having to dispatch each one silently with a knife, whereas I could have just shot them all with a silencer and avoided the whole 'firecracker' excuse, getting shot, and consequential bullet removal," I explain.

"Well that should be easy enough to do. You definitely want to make a detachable one though. If you need to get into close combat, you won't be able to use the disarm bar easily with an extra six inches on the barrel and the larger cylinder partially blocking the opening. I'd say let's make one tonight, but we wouldn't be able to test it because that barrel isn't outfitted for a silencer. You'll have to take it to Archer. He has the equipment necessary to modify the barrel," Tia informs me.

"Well, I was planning to go to the mall tomorrow to buy Cheza a coat for Sara to armor and one that will be warm enough for Greenland. I could stop by Archer's place since I'll be down there," I tell her.

"Great! Go ahead and make the suppressor down there. It's okay, I trust in his discretion. Oh, and take Cheza with you," Tia orders.

"What? Why?" I ask.

"Two reasons. One: you probably won't do a good job picking out something cute. Two: Cheza would probably like to say hello... also, she is probably still a little angry about earlier and won't really be in a training mood if you aren't here. Sorry about that by the way," Tia says, quietly at the end.

"Don't worry about it. Considering what I almost did an hour ago, I'd say it was completely justified... Well, goodnight!" I awkwardly exclaim and run away before Tia can get another word in.

I'm running towards my bedroom when Sara calls out to me from the kitchen.

"Cole? Do you want to talk about the holster?" Sara asks.

"Yeah, let's do that quickly," I answer and we both head to Sara's room.

Her bedroom is fitted almost exactly like mine: Bed on the right when you first enter the room, door to bathroom on left wall, desk on the back wall to the right of the bathroom door, dresser in the back right corner. We go over to the desk where she has a blueprint spread out.

"Okay, so my idea for the 'different magazines' dilemma was to make the pouch a hard shell with two identical sections. In each of the sections there will be a spring loaded platform the width of two magazines, which will push the magazines toward the right side of the pocket. At the bottom right corner of each pocket, there will be a hole covered in X-cut rubber. The magazines are pushed out bullet side first and the rubber acts as a stopper for the wider 'butt' end, which will only give when the magazine is pulled on. Each section will be able to hold a total of four magazines, but only three can be loaded at a time for the spring mechanism to work," Sara explains.

"That sounds awesome, Sara! Although, how do you get the magazines in initially?" I ask.

"...A zipper? Yeah! That's it, a zipper on the front of the section and then you just slide the magazines in like batteries!... will that even work? It might fuck with the spring if the front side isn't a hard shell... I'll think about it. So what's the verdict on the silencer?" Sara asks.

"A six inch pouch with a button strap to fasten it in place when not in use?" I suggest.

"That should work well! As for the sheath for a Sic dagger, I think holding it on with Velcro straps would be easiest. So when you make the sheath, add a loop of some kind to the top and bottom for Velcro straps," Sara says.

"How about I just make one right here?" I ask as I grab a pair of sewing scissors off of her desk and use them to slice my left arm open. I imagine a new twelve inch Sic dagger, but I decide to make a few embellishments. Where the hilt connects to the blade (where the cross guard is), I imagine a trapezoid shape with the large side facing towards the blade. This trapezoid I imagine into having a total of five faces, so that it looks like a pentagon from the top. When the trapezoid meets the sheath, it connects to a complimentary triangle to form a pentagonal diamond. I also put a small diamond shape pommel with the point facing away from the hilt.

The sheath forms into my left hand while the diamond Sic dagger forms into my right hand. When it finishes forming, I solidify it and slide the Sic dagger into its sheath, locking it into place. _(5.4 Liters)_

"Here you go," I say handing Sara the blade.

"This is a pretty nice piece of work, Cole!" Sara exclaims and tries to pull the blade from the sheath, only to find that she can't. "It's stuck."

"Nope, I just made it so that it can only be opened by me. Cheza might be able to as well, but I'm not sure. This way I don't have to worry about it accidentally falling out," I explain.

"I just thought of something. I may need to holster my gun with the silencer still attached so try to make the holster able to accommodate one. Also, design the magazine packs to be able to fit four of the 25 round magazines. How many discs will you need for Cheza's jacket?" I ask.

"Yours used 282 discs so hers will probably need approximately 200 discs," She informs me. I quickly slide of the discs from my arm in just under three minutes. _(3.4 Liters)_

"Anyway, I'm going to bed now. Goodnight Sara!" I reach the door before Sara stops me.

"Hey, Cole? Is everything okay?" she asks.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine, Sara," I reply. She isn't buying it.

"Cole, you're like a little brother to me, you know that right? You can trust me with anything," Sara says.

I flinch when she calls me her brother. Hopefully she will just think that it was a muscle spasm.

"Can I? Can I really, Sara? Or are you actually giving information to your mother that will possibly get Cheza and I killed? Are you actually a traitor that I should have killed earlier?" I want to ask, but I don't.

Instead, I smile and say "I know. Thanks Sara."

I know nothing.

I leave her room, feeling like shit for thinking that there would be any scenario where I should kill the woman who has been a substitute mother, teacher, and older sister to me for fifteen years.

I go upstairs to my bedroom and strip to my boxers. I'm not really tired because I slept so much today, but if I don't sleep now, I will end up sleeping in late and I have things to do tomorrow. I think for a moment and come up with a solution. I reopen the partially healed cut in my arm to replicate the diamond Sic dagger and sheathe in my usual three foot length. _(2.2 Liters)_

Fuck you Ambien! A massive amount of blood loss is the ultimate solution for sleeping problems! I just realized that I no longer feel it when I cut into my left arm. I guess I've destroyed the nerve endings so many times that they no longer grow back. I wonder if Cheza can still feel it...

"Cole, is everything okay? You feel kind of upset..." Cheza says from behind my door.

"I'm sleeping with you tonight because I'm worried—and for good reason! What are you thinking!?" Cheza exclaims after walking in my room and examining the situation. I guess that answers my question as to whether or not she can feel it when I cut my arm open.

"Hey there, Cheza. I'm getting really sleepy so if you're sleeping with me then get in," I say while scooting over to my right and opening up the covers.

"Oh, by the way, we are going to the mall tomorrow and to the gun range. Tia Ok'd it and I'm driving. Night, Cheza," I say as I close my eyes.

"Goodnight, Cole," Cheza says while snuggling into my left side.

...

Chapter 10: Fuck the flowers, Honey!

[May 24th]

I wake up the next morning and look over to my left at Cheza, who is still sleeping peacefully. I couldn't appreciate it last night, most likely because of my brand of sleeping medication, but Cheza is wearing a soft white dress shirt that has been unbuttoned three down from the neck. It's just enough for me to almost see her breasts while being unfair but totally awesome at the same time.

"Cheza, we need to wake up and get going," I tell her.

"Hmm... five more minutes," she mumbles.

"You can't even get any sleep in five minutes," I point out.

"No, but I do get five more minutes in bed with you," she replies. How do I say no to that?

As she said, we get up five minutes later. She goes to her room to get ready while I hop in my shower. I dress in shorts and a light grey t-shirt (just to switch things up), grab my gun from the holster, and head out for breakfast. I force myself to meet Sara's face so as to not arouse any suspicion. Cheza comes out about ten minutes later wearing white capris with a light grey tank top and sits down to eat.

"Well, we need to get going," I announce.

"Where are you two going?" Natasha inquires.

"The mall. Do you want to come?" I ask, only being polite. Natasha looks from my face to Cheza's and slowly smiles.

"Nah, you two go ahead. I have some work that I need to finish anyway," Natasha says.

"Alright, well, we're off!" I exclaim as Cheza and I walk out the front door.

"Cole! Keys?" Sara shouts from the door while tossing me the keys to the Mercedes SUV.

"Right... might need these. Thanks!" I reply after catching the keys.

I open the garage door and we head out. We go to the mall first to find Cheza a coat.

"Ooh! I like this one!" Cheza exclaims after holding a light grey, hooded Nike jacket to her chest.

"It would look nice on you, but it's made out of spandex or something. That might be a little too tight fitting for it to be armored. It also might be a little too cold for Greenland," I point out.

"Well, wouldn't it be a better idea for me to have a thin jacket that I can wear anywhere and then I'll put a winter coat over it?" Cheza suggests.

"That actually is a good idea," I reply.

"Of course it is," Cheza smugly responds.

"We can get that jacket if you want, but now we need to find you a winter coat," I say.

We find a white winter coat with a faux fur lined hood that Cheza is content with so we buy it. Cheza and I leave the mall and head for Archer's gun club. We walk inside and head towards the back where Archer greets us.

"Cole! How is that G20 working for you?" Archer asks while shaking my hand.

"And Miss Chezarei! It has been a while!" Archer says while grabbing Cheza's left hand and bringing it to his lips.

"Chezarei, who put this on you?" Archer asks when he notices my ring on her finger.

"Um... Cole did..."Cheza quietly say. I always find her taciturnity towards people she doesn't know well to be endearingly cute.

"Ah, I see!" Archer exclaims with a broad smile. "So what brings you two here today?"

"It's actually about my G20. I need to have the barrel modified for a silencer," I reply.

"That is certainly doable. Come. Let us go into the back," Archer says.

We follow him through an 'employees only' door, back into an armory that is not unlike the one at home.

"You have the gun with you, I presume?" Archer inquires. I nod and pull my gun from one of my cargo shorts' pockets. "You made modifications to make it a melee combat weapon as well? What is this material made of?"

"Silicon carbide," I reply.

"The same material that they make expensive armor plating out of?" Archer incredulously asks and I nod in response.

"Is this what Tia was referring to as 'seeing something you won't believe, in return for payment'?" Archer inquires.

"No, actually I think she is talking about the silencer. Speaking of which, do you have one that will fit a 10mm barrel?" I question.

"They are usually custom order. I have one in my private collection; however, it is not for sale," Archer says.

"That's fine. All I need to do is examine it. Then you will get to see something interesting," I tell him.

"Okay, but let us modify the barrel first," Archer says.

I dismantle my gun on a nearby workbench and hand him the barrel. He walks over to some sort of drill and creates the grooves on the outside of the muzzle. He walks back over and hands it to me so I can reassemble the weapon. I realize that I am really thankful for that extra inch of barrel otherwise this would have been a giant pain in the ass. Archer walks over to a portion of his Armory and pulls a cylinder out of a drawer, comes back and hands it to me. I screw it on to make sure it's a perfect fit, and then I take it off when I see that it is. I'm about to grab my knife when I realize that, while Tia explained how one works, I have no idea what it's like on the inside.

"Do you have a diagram of the inside of one of these?" I ask.

"No, but..." Archer says while taking the silencer from my hand before unscrewing the tip and taking out the contents. It looks like a dozen, half inch cones all stacked together. "will this work?"

"Yeah, this should work just fine. Hypothetically speaking, if this conic system was to be permanent in the silencer, would it still work?" I inquire.

"Hypothetically, yes it would. However, you would be unable to clean it easily, if at all," Archer informs me.

"Oh, that's no problem. When it gets dirty, I'll just make a new one," I say as I pull out my switchblade. I slice open my left forearm while Archer gives me this curious look.

"I hate it when he does this..." Cheza grumbles.

I hold the picture in my mind and start the drain. The silencer forms in my right hand and I solidify it. _(5.3 Liters)_

"Well, let's test it out!" I exclaim to a wide-eyed Archer.

We walk over to the firing range. My gun making a kind of 'pyu' sound instead of the usual bang tells me that I'm successful. It isn't completely silent though so I'll need to figure something else out for situations in which I need to dispatch enemies without alerting their friends that are in the immediate vicinity.

"Consider me paid in full," Archer says, still shocked.

"Are you sure? That only took half a liter to make so I can definitely make another," I tell him.

"Truly!?" Archer asks. His face is almost identical to the one that Sara made when she saw Sephiroth's katana, but his is much more weathered.

"Sure! Cheza's ring drained me of seven times that amount!" I say as I start a draw for a second silencer.

"So you created that gun?" Archer curiously asks.

"Yeah, well, except for the springs and barrel. I didn't want to take the chance of a silicon carbide barrel tweaking the ballistics of the bullets and springs are impossible," I tell him while finishing the silencer. "Here you go, just don't tell anyone where you got it and don't tell anyone that I can do this. It will most likely lead to death in some fashion, probably not yours, but mine and the first waves of people that they send after me."

"I am unsure if I want something like that... I'll be careful. After all, how many chances am I going to have to obtain an item like this?" Archer rhetorically asks.

"Not many! Anyway, we need to get back so Cheza can start training again. Thanks for everything, Archer!" I exclaim.

"No, thank you, Cole! If you need anything else, just stop by," Archer replies while shaking my hand.

"Actually, now that you mention it, I need six more 25 round magazines. Do you have any?" I ask.

"I have four currently. I ordered them thinking that you may require more," Archer says, walks over to a drawer, and pulls them out. "Here, in return for the silencer."

"Thank you," I reply. Archer walks us to the front of the store and up to the doors.

"Goodbye you two, and do let me know when the wedding is!" Archer exclaims as Cheza and I leave.

The short walk to the car is an awkward one and the ride home is even more so. I pull into the garage.

"Cole..." Oh, here it comes. Next she'll be asking when we are getting married, followed by the ridiculous tons of planning that goes into a wedding, followed by a huge argument about cake.

"Fuck the flowers honey! We need to move on to the important issue: Are we even allowed to have an ice cream wedding cake or is that a 'birthday only' type of cake?" My inner monologue dictates.

"Do you even want to get married?" Cheza asks.

That is not a question I was expecting.

"I know now that this ring was most likely a graduation present or something and not you proposing, but I'm happy that you let me think that for a while," Cheza quietly says while not sounding happy at all.

"That isn't a question I can answer right now, Cheza," I reply as I open my door. I get out, shut the door, and go around to the trunk for the shopping bags.

"At least it's better than a no," Cheza whispers, thinking that I can't hear her.

Chapter 11: In actuality, this has nothing to do with Emo Rock or Masochism

I walk inside the house (while carrying all of the bags) behind Cheza.

"So how did it go?" Tia asks. I pull out the silencer and four magazines. "Nice! Archer was so surprised that he even gave you magazines?"

"No, those were as thanks for making him a silencer. They only take half a liter so I figured, why not?" I reply.

"That might not have been the best idea... with Archer it should be okay, but don't give Sic things to anyone else," Tia warns me.

"Don't worry, Tia. I won't. I wouldn't have even made the second silencer if you hadn't said that I could trust Archer's discretion," I tell her.

"Good. Alright, you two go change and meet me downstairs. We should be able to get in about three hours of training before dinner," Tia says. I grab the magazines, silencer, my gun, and the grey jacket that Cheza picked out, and I bring them to Sara.

"Here, these are for measurements. Will you be able to armor a jacket like this?" I ask.

"Yeah, I should be able to easily. Getting it to look cute once it's armored? Now that's the real challenge," Sara replies.

"Well, do your best. Cheza is going to use it as an undercoat while we are in Greenland anyway, but giving her inclination to wear it here would be nice. Thanks Sara!" I say and then I start to head out the door when Sara stops me.

"Cole... I'm concerned about your mental wellbeing. Tell me honestly, what do you think about the pleasure you've been getting from killing?" Sara asks while slipping into concerned older sister/psychiatrist mode.

"I... feel guilty, I guess... I know that it's terrible to gain so much pleasure from dealing destruction and agonizing death, but when I'm in the act itself, I just don't care..." I explain.

"Does Airi's influence have anything to do with this?" Sara inquires.

"I'm not sure..." I answer without explaining that I'm positive it isn't just Airi based on my reaction from last night. "The girls are waiting for me so I need to go."

"Alright, Cole. Just know that I'm always here if you need to talk," Sara says with a warm smile as I exit her room. I go to my room to get changed, head downstairs, and find Tia and Cheza waiting.

"Alright, let's get started," I say.

"Before we start, I want you to give Chezarei more of your blood," Tia says.

"No, I'm not draining Cheza again!" I exclaim.

"Don't worry, Cole. We came up with a better way than yesterday. I just sit with both my wrists open and you replace my blood in one wrist as it is drained from the other," Cheza says.

"Alright, but I'm only doing half a liter today, just in case," I tell them.

Cheza and I go over by the bucket and I transfer half a liter over.

(Chezarei now has 2.5 Liters of your blood, which now exceeds the amount of her own by 0.1 Liters)

"Hey Tia, I don't think I should transfer over anymore blood. I'm over half of what's in Cheza," I shout from across the room.

"Don't worry Cole, this is easy to fix. Just pull it out a little bit and then push it back in. You should be able to fit more of yourself inside her this time!" Tia says while barely holding it together long enough to finish the joke before she laughs. "I was torn between that and saying 'whose is the other half?'"

"Hey Cheza, try to seal your wrists," I say while ignoring Tia.

"All you have to do is envision your wrists sealing and my blood should do it automatically," I explain. She tries and it works.

"Just remember that in case there is a time that my blood doesn't automatically stop blood from leaving your body," I tell her.

Stop blood from leaving... "Hey Tia, have there ever been any female Shorn Ones?"

"No there haven't, and no it shouldn't affect _that,_ Cole. Don't worry," Tia says with an amused smile while reading my expression. Thankfully, Cheza doesn't seem to get it.

"Okay, we should get started already!" I exclaim while standing, changing the subject before Cheza has the opportunity to understand what I was referring to.

"Actually Cole, you are going to sit out today. Chezarei is going to use the two Sic blades and I will use the kukri blades," Tia says. I shrug and sit back down to watch Tia's lesson. "We are going to focus mainly in defense so just try to block my attacks as they come."

The lesson is slow going for the first hour until I get a brilliant idea. I start to wonder if the images I can send Cheza will work with muscle memory. I establish our link and send Cheza an image of the counter for the cross slash that Tia is moving in for. Cheza responds by fluidly blocking with the left Sic blade before following up with the right. She is moving at speeds above normal for her fastest pace, and closer to mine. Tia wasn't expecting this so she ends up taking a slash to her right wrist.

Tia gets excited, kicks things up a notch, and slashes Cheza back.

"Don't, Cole! It's shallow and it won't leave a scar or anything so let me continue," Cheza says through the connection. I still want to stop it, but I don't and send Cheza images instead.

Cheza gives Tia four more hits but takes three to her person. I can't take this anymore.

"Airi, is there any way for you to transfer her pain to me through the link?"

(It can be done, but it is ill-advised)

"Will it block her pain?"

(Yes, but it will transf—

"Do it."

I keep sending images to Cheza while taking her pain. It's almost as if I'm fighting for her, which is just the way I like it. Her body takes on four more hits while dealing seven to Tia, but Tia is careful to make all the blows shallow. I take the pain for Cheza, but it stings a bit more than it would if I were the one being cut.

I stop sending images and see if any of it has transferred into her memory. Cheza continues fighting as her scratches heal almost instantly, even faster than mine normally can. The fight continues and I finally see the right position to send Cheza a finishing move. Cheza creates some distance between herself and Tia, forcing Tia to chase her. Cheza suddenly changes momentum, charges at Tia, and takes to the ground to slide through Tia's legs while hooking Tia's ankles with her arms. Tia falls on her face as Cheza flips herself backward, over her head, and spins around. She lands on Tia's back while driving a blade into the mat on each side of Tia's neck.

"Haha! Nice finisher, Cheza!" Tia exclaims while laughing into the mat. "What have you been teaching her, Cole?"

"Well, I guess you could call it teaching. Throughout the match, I was sending her images of moves that I've learned or thought of," I say as Tia looks over at me and her eyes go wide.

"I stopped about halfway through to see if she was learning anything from it and she kept on fighting. The finisher was an image I sent her though. It was an idea I had from when I fought one of Illapa's vampires, in which I slid to clip off his knee," I explain. Cheza looks over at me.

"COLE! WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Cheza screams as she jumps to her feet.

"What? You knew I was sending you images," I reply, puzzled by her reaction.

"Cole! You're bleeding!" Tia exclaims while rolling over and sitting up. I look at the blood dripping from each of the dozen cuts on my body.

"What in the hell are you guys doing!?" I shout at my blood, which instantly stops, shivers, and then goes back into the cuts and closes the door. It's like my blood was a pet dog getting yelled at for piddling on the carpet.

"Cole, why were you bleeding!?" Cheza asks with alarm.

I look at her immaculate arms and everything clicks: What Airi was trying to say is that the slashes would transfer to me. I don't know how they did that, but they did. I can't let Cheza know about this.

"I've started cutting myself to escape the pain of living. I'm going to go upstairs to my room to listen to Emo Rock now," I say while standing up.

(That won't work)

"I mean, I've turned into a hardcore masochist that gets extreme pleasure from pain. Please excuse me while I go upstairs to change my semen-covered pants," I say while walking towards the door.

(No, that won't work because she already knows)

"DAMMIT AIRI! TELL ME THAT FIRST NEXT TIME!" I shout out loud.

"Cole... Why!?" Cheza asks with tears in her eyes.

"Because I couldn't stand feeling you in pain..." I reply, knowing that it's completely hypocritical.

"You're always taking the blows for me! Do you have any idea how it makes me feel!? How I feel every time you get shot or stabbed or beaten!? Watching you nearly get beaten to death by Illapa while I sat there, unable to do anything to help, was one of the most painful experiences of my life!" Cheza cries. I walk over to her and gently hold her.

"Cheza, I'm sorry. I'm just not strong enough to cope with you being in pain... I'm sorry that I force you to bear that burden every time, but something tells me that if anything were to happen to you... I would cause something much worse," I whisper, thinking back to Tia's story about the Aztec blood warrior that made himself explode and took a city with him. I also think back to when I felt Cheza's heart stop and the reaction my body took.

"I understand your concern, Cole. It seems that I also made you go through something painful with Illapa..." Cheza replies while slightly muffled from my shirt.

"Not to interrupt, but Cole? How did you do that? Chezarei's cuts were healing at an incredibly fast rate for somebody who isn't a god," Tia asks.

"I'm not entirely sure. I asked Airi if there was any way to transfer Cheza's pain to me, she said it was ill-advised, then I asked her if it would take away Cheza's pain, she said 'yes but—'. I interrupted her and started feeling the pain of where Cheza was getting cut. When I opened my eyes, I saw that her cuts were healing rapidly," I recapitulate.

"I think that when Airi transferred the pain, she also transferred my healing ability to Cheza and it sort of stacked on with hers," I theorize.

"Chezarei, let's go one more time. I want to see how much she can do on her own so no link, Cole," Tia says.

They start up again and I see that Cheza has retained the majority of her fighting skill, but she is only at about three quarters of my speed or Tia's.

"Okay, that's good enough. I think you can competently defend yourself against anything besides a god so tomorrow we will move on to trying to use your power. Chezarei, go see if you can help Sara with dinner. It might be a good idea for you to learn to cook for Cole! Cole, show me the silencer," Tia orders.

Cheza and I both head up the stairs, but we split off at the top: Cheza to her room, and me to Sara's to fetch my gun and the silencer. Cheza passes me in the kitchen with a smile as I head for the stairs. I go down the stairs while screwing the silencer on and find Tia in the gun range.

"Here it is," I say.

"Good, but that isn't really why I called you here," Tia replies.

"Then why go through all of this? Does it have something to do with Cheza?" I ask.

"Yes. So far, the only time that she has used her icy powers is when she was in a Drive state, one which was activated by you getting shot in the neck," Tia explains.

I am really not liking where this is headed.

"Tomorrow, when we come down for training, I want you to keep your side to me at all times. I'll have Chezarei explain how she entered the Drive state, and then I'm going to take this knife and throw it into your neck. The reason I'm telling you this is because if you even flinch, there's a chance I will end up severing your spinal cord, thus killing you. How quickly can you regenerate a severed trachea?"

(About 6 minutes, during which, your blood will enter the type of stasis that occurs when you are critically injured)

"Airi says about six minutes. My blood will go into that strange hibernation mode like it did after I got shot on the plane," I tell her.

I knew I wasn't going to like this, but at least this way Cheza won't have to get physically injured to use her powers.

"Good. This should be enough of a fatal feeling to force her into it. Just make sure you pull the knife from your throat before you pass out so it doesn't become truly fatal," Tia says.

"Okay, it's a plan, I guess. Well, while we're here, let me show you the silencer," I say and fire ten rounds down range.

"I have one problem with it, however: it isn't silent enough. I need a ranged weapon that is truly silent to the point that I can kill an enemy with his friends directly in front of him, without said friends knowing what happened," I tell her.

"What about a thrown weapon? Like knives... or spikes would probably be better," Tia suggests.

"Throwing spikes?" I ask.

"Yeah, you could make Sic spikes and throw them. I think we may actually have some throwing spikes," Tia says as she walks over to the melee weapon side of the armory. She opens a drawer and pulls out three objects that are reminiscent of six-inch metal pencils.

"With a strengthened throw, and a bit of accuracy, you can make a kill shot from relatively far away," Tia says as she grips one of the spikes in between her thumb and index/middle fingers.

Tia throws it into the front wall, roughly one hundred feet away. I run over to it and find that it is halfway buried into the concrete, all while done silently. This is something I could work with.

"You could make Sic spikes and use those. If you get accurate enough, you could use something more like needles and by hitting the right spots, you could non-lethally immobilize your opponent. Sara has a book on acupuncture or chi-flows or something, that you should read and then you can practice using the rubber dummy over there," Tia says while pointing to the rubber figure of a male torso on a stand.

"You can practice throwing the spikes while I allow Cheza to try and use her power without having to force her into her Drive. I was thinking of giving her like half of an hour before I resort to throwing a knife through your neck," Tia says with a slightly sadistic smile.

I go upstairs and ask Sara for that book. I read about different nerve points and, with the help of Google, I learn that I can hypothetically use a needle to pinch a nerve to cause temporary paralysis. I could also use a needle to cause incredible, but non-lethal, amounts of pain. This information could be really dangerous for me to have... especially for any enemies that I feel the need to 'play' with. Wait, do gods even have nerves? I now know that they don't have hearts or internal organs in their torsos. Once I get accurate enough, maybe I'll try them out on Tia. After all, she will be throwing a knife through my neck tomorrow.

...

Chapter 12: Hellraiser + Sonic

[May 25th]

I wake up at 7am the next morning, take a shower, and dress in black shorts, a black tank top, and even black boxers because there is no sense in ruining my clothes that will actually show blood stains. I walk down the stairs and into the basement an hour before Cheza's training so I can practice with the spikes a little before I become incapacitated. I try to make some pencil-like spikes, the kind that Tia showed me last night, but they aren't heavy enough to fly correctly when made of silicon carbide.

A memory of Lucy Liu throwing a spike through a shoji paper door and into a wooden support beam flashes through my mind before stopping on the image of the spike imbedded into the beam. It's a scene from _Kill Bill Vol. 1_ and the spike looks like it would be the perfect model an X-shape that narrows into a point. There is also some red embellishment on the back, but I don't think it's necessary.

"Thanks for the assist, Airi!"

(You are welcome, Master)

I create five of these spikes and try throwing them. They have the mass to fly straight, but I keep making them spin. I guess the Adroit part of my Drive either doesn't consider the spikes to be weapons, or doesn't work on weapons that I've made. After about half of an hour, I finally get the hang of it, after discovering that I was just releasing the spikes at the wrong point.

The magnetism of the plates in my jacket works entirely based on the individual discs. My Sic blades and gun won't stick to my skin because they have too much mass. The spikes—which have the same mass as the discs—stick to my skin, so instead of holding onto the spikes to throw them, I can just stick them to my index finger and whip my hand forward. At the exact moment that my hand cracks backward, the forward kinetic energy breaks the magnetism and propels the dart forward. I find that it works the same way if I stick a dart to each of my fingers as well.

I am going to have some serious fun with this! I start making 4" needles (that I can make five of for the cost of one dart), when Tia and Cheza walk down the stairs.

"See! I told you he would be down here!" Tia proclaims while Cheza glares at me.

"You scared me..." Cheza quietly says while pouting.

"You know that you can always figure out where I am by using the connection, right?" I ask.

"...It's early and I'm not thinking clearly so leave me alone!" Cheza exclaims, becoming angry at me to hide her embarrassment.

"Anyway, look what I can do!" I announce as I stick four spikes to my fingers and whip my hand forward. All four spikes stitch up the dummy that is about forty feet away, with only about eight inches separating each spike. I'm sure that there is an equation there somewhere about the distance that separates each of my fingers correlating with the vector path of the darts. That's definitely something I should figure out later. Maybe I'll be able to get up to four kills at the same time.

"Well that is pretty fucking impressive! When I showed you the spikes, I thought that figuring out how to throw them correctly would keep you preoccupied for at least a couple of days!" Tia exclaims.

"That issue was fixed when I figured out that Sic objects of low mass stick to my skin. I'm going to see how needles work now," I inform her.

"Alright, Chezarei and I will be over here working on the use of her powers," Tia says in a way that blatantly sounds like she is up to something, but I don't think Cheza notices. They walk to the center of the mat and get to work.

After about twenty minutes of getting the hang of throwing the five needles, I know that the end is coming soon. The training dummy is in the back left corner, so I walk forward until I am standing directly in front of it and completely parallel with Tia.

"So explain to me again, what happened before you entered your Drive state?" Tia asks, meaning I've got about thirty seconds to try this out.

I'm twenty-five feet from the dummy when I slice my wrist open and quickly drag my fingertips across the incision before flinging my hand out towards the dummy. I do this rapid fire for twenty seconds and then I admire my work. The dummy (and a fairly large portion of the wall behind it) looks like the nine month byproduct of Hellraiser and one very pissed off hedgehog.

"So the shotgun blast severed Cole's arteries?" Tia inquires. Oh boy...

"Yeah," Cheza explains in a haggard fashion. Here it comes...

"Do you mean like this?" Tia rhetorically asks with an uninflected tone as she whips out her combat knife, which I still have no idea where she keeps, and flings it into my neck.

'Well, this is unpleasant.' I think as I fall on to my back with blood running down the sides of my neck. I knew wearing black today was a good idea!

I start choking on my blood as I hear Cheza cry out my name while screaming it in my head, but I respond to neither. One: because there is a fucking knife through my larynx and two: because it would defeat the purpose of getting a fucking knife through my larynx!

'Damn this hurts!' I think as I reach up to pull the blade out of my neck, only to find that it is slightly stuck in one of my vertebrae. So here I am, tugging on this knife that is refusing to come out while it hurts like a son of a bitch with every pull. I feel my left arm losing the strength needed to yank the knife out.

'Well this is a stupid way to die! Of the three gods I've killed and critical injuries I've sustained in battle, I die from a staged fight.' I think as my vision fades.

(What if that was her goal all along?)

"No, Tia wouldn't do something like this... she wouldn't kill me in a staged fight on purpose... right?"

(Wouldn't she?)

"Tia is my friend... my teacher... my sister! I trust Tia! She wouldn't betray me like this!"

(But is she truly trustworthy?)

Resisting the compulsion to view Tia as an enemy is becoming difficult.

"SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU BITCH! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO TURN ME AGAINST TIA!"

I feel something cold burning my forehead and the blade freezes in my neck as it is pulled free.

...

Chapter 13: Uninflected Tones

I wake up to find that my head is in Cheza's lap with one of Cheza's hands resting on my bare chest and the other entangled in my hair. I open my mouth to ask what time it is, but no words escape me so I open the connection between our minds.

"Hey beautiful, what time is it?" I think. Cheza blushes slightly and smiles while she plays with my hair.

"It's almost noon. No more of this nearly dying stuff for training, okay?" Cheza thinks and I smile at her.

"Alright, I promise. Did it work though?" I think. Cheza responds by cooling down her left hand, and then it starts freezing my chest.

"Ouch! Cold cold cold!" I think.

"Sorry! I guess I don't have total control over it yet..." Cheza thinks.

"No worries. I'd be more surprised if you did," I reply.

Tia comes in the room, which I just now realize is Cheza's room. The thing that throws me off is that Tia has a large gash on her arm.

"Umm... what in the hell happened?" I try to ask, but my larynx is still on its lunch break.

"Cheza, could you translate for me please?" I think.

"Sure, I'll translate," Cheza says aloud. "...Okay, Cole is saying that you are a bitch and he doesn't want to see you right now."

"Hey! I didn't say that!" I think.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, Cole. I didn't even consider the possibility that knife might get lodged in your vertebrae," Tia says.

"...Cole says that he doesn't care and that you should just leave," Cheza says.

"CHEZA!" I think.

"Oh fine... always have to ruin my fun..." Cheza grumbles. "Cole was really asking what happened."

"Well, let's just say that I'm never going to try and force out someone's powers again, and I discovered that frozen skin does not heal quickly, even for gods," Tia says.

"Alright, just give me the play-by-play," I think and Cheza repeats.

"Well, the knife went into your neck, Chezarei sprinted over and yanked it out, which froze while she touched it, and then she flung it at me. I could have easily dodged it, but I was curious so I turned it into this glancing shot. It did this much damage, but it also shattered on impact with the wall. She ran over and grabbed one of the Sic blades while I grabbed a kukri. I was still much faster than her so I dodged and blocked to avoid any more damage. However, the kukri blade froze and chipped a little with each parry. Finally, I just took a hard swing at her attack and when the swords hit each other, they both shattered: the kukri, down to its ivory handle and the Sic blade, completely. When I decided that the experiment had gone on long enough, I started thinking of ways to snap her out of it. I was about to resort to tying her up when I revealed our plan and reminded Chezarei that we needed to help you. Thankfully, this snapped her out of it, and here we are," Tia explains.

I think for several moments. I can understand how changes in temperature could weaken the steel blades, but how could it affect the silicon carbide? Silicon carbide has a really wide temperature threshold so the cold shouldn't make it any less durable... but it could make the iron that is in the silicon carbide less durable. However, I can't make pure silicon carbide of that size. Hmm... I'll have to experiment a little later.

"Hey Airi, what's the status on my throat? I'm kind of thirsty."

(You are able to drink now, but your larynx is still damaged)

"What's the ETA on that?"

(Two hours)

"Cheza, it looks like I'll need you to translate for the next two hours. Could you ask Tia to bring me something to drink?" I think.

"Tia, can you bring Cole something to drink?" Cheza asks for me.

"Sure, I'll be right back," Tia says. She comes back a minute later with a glass of juice.

"Thank you. Now go get ten paper cups and boil a teapot," I think.

Cheza looks at me with a perplexed expression, but relays what I said. Tia looks confused for a moment, but nods anyway and leaves the room. Ten minutes later, she comes back and hands me the teapot as I sit up.

"Okay Cheza, we need you to work on control so I want you to cool the water, but don't freeze it," I think to her while setting a paper cup on her bedside table. I pour water from the kettle into the cup as Cheza nods in response.

An hour later, Cheza manages to freeze all ten cups in each of the three rounds we do.

"We'll just keep working on it until you can maintain control over it," I say with a raspy voice.

"How much longer until my voice is completely healed Airi?"

(About twenty minutes)

Sara walks into the room looking slightly perturbed.

"Hey Cole. The director of The Agency has asked to borrow you to help Natasha with an investigation into some strange events at a frat house over at ASU. They're having some big annual party tonight and you two will be going under the guise of a guy and his girlfriend from the university," Sara says as if she is waiting for a bomb to go off any second, as am I.

"Okay, I mean I do owe Carla for keeping me hidden from the authorities and Natasha is my friend so I want to help her," I say, my voice sounding a bit less raspy. I can almost hear the whistling of the silver bombshell as it comes crashing down on top of us.

"Okay, you two have a nice time!" Cheza says with a smile. Cheza is being reasonable...

IT'S A TRAP!

"No Cole, this isn't a trap," Cheza replies with a gentle smile.

"I just want you to help Natasha and I know that you won't do anything foolish with her... right?" Cheza asks, her smile morphing into a look that is slightly homicidal.

"Of course not!" I quickly reply.

"Then I have nothing to worry about!" Cheza exclaims, returning to her normal smile. "Go help her and watch her back... her upper back."

"Oh, and Cole? You are going to have to go in without your holster. I still haven't finished the new one and a sword hilt peeking over your shoulder is far from inconspicuous," Sara tells me.

"That's fine. I can make new swords on the fly if I need to. When do we leave?" I inquire.

"In about an hour. Natasha is getting ready now," Sara replies.

"I guess I will too," I reply.

I go to my room, take a shower, and dress in cargo shorts, a white t-shirt, and my leather jacket. I walk out into the kitchen and have lunch while waiting for Natasha. She comes out fifteen minutes later, wearing denim shorts, a magenta polo shirt, and matching Vans as she looks at me expectantly. I grab the keys to the Mercedes SUV and we head out.

"Hey Natasha, if this party isn't until tonight, why are we going now?" I inquire as I take the ramp onto I-10.

"Surveillance mostly. We are kind of flying blind into this one. All we know is that several of the fraternity members may be involved in the summoning of something to our world," Natasha replies.

"Summoning to our world?" I ask.

"I'm not entirely sure where that kind of stuff comes from, but a friend tried to explain it to me as pocket worlds or dimensions that can be connected to where we are. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense," Natasha says.

'However, it makes quite a bit of sense to me.' I think as I remember the secret door behind the bookcase in Uncle Eric's office that led to the sandstone platforms and the jungle. Explaining it as a pocket dimension makes quite a bit of sense... for my fucked up reality at least.

"What kind of strange events have been happening at this house?" I inquire.

"Strange online purchases, local blackouts on just one street, and a neighbor swore he saw a penguin in the backyard, one night," She answers.

"Strange online purchases? What constitutes strange?" I ask.

"Several pounds of colored sand, shit-tons of chalk, and five gallons of pig's blood, all of which are indicative of attempts at summoning. Plus, there's the penguin..." Natasha tells me.

We reach the house about an hour later. I drive past it and park in front of a nearby house that is on the opposite side of the street. Several crews of people are setting up a stage, wheeling in crates of alcohol, or bringing in food. At 5pm, Natasha suddenly tenses up with her eyes tightly closed, and starts to shake slightly. About ten seconds later, it stops and leaves Natasha breathing heavily.

"There's someone being held captive in the house," Natasha says after she calms down.

"What do you mean, being held captive?" I inquire.

"What I saw wasn't very clear, but a barred cage definitely stood out and I could see a huddled mass inside of it," She replies.

"...do you think it could be the penguin?" I ask while trying to think of a reasonable explanation.

"No, it was definitely a hominoid figure," Natasha answers, shivering slightly.

I can only imagine what these sick bastards are doing to that poor orangutan!

(Probably not an animal... what she is referring to)

"Thanks, Yoda."

"Well, I guess we will just have to rescue them," I calmly reply and pat her left shoulder, causing her to wince.

"What happened to your shoulder?" I inquire, thinking back to that night in Hawaii.

"It's an old injury that I sustained while training with my grandfather when I was ten," Natasha replies.

"What were you training for when you were ten, if you don't mind my asking?" I ask, knowing that normal people don't start training for anything combat related at the age of ten, unlike myself.

"I was... I don't really want to talk about it right now..." Natasha quietly says while looking away.

Natasha's injury was most likely caused by a badly broken shoulder blade, which isn't something that can be easily done by accident. Her reluctance to talk about it hints at a rather unpleasant relationship with her grandfather... or maybe I'm just reading into this too much?

"So... about how long ago was that?" I ask, realizing that I don't actually know how old Natasha is and it's a good subject to switch to.

"Wow you are unsubtle! I won't tell you, but I will give you a hint. The age difference between us is less than that between you and Sara," She replies.

So that puts her anywhere between the age of 9 and 31, but she also called the injury to her shoulder old and she sustained that when she was 10 so I think I can put her safely between 13 and 31 years old...

"Well, you are quite filled out to be only thirteen, but now I'm really glad we didn't do anything in Hawaii!" I joke.

"You know, we could change that..." Natasha says while turning in her seat to face me.

Now, I may be dense when it comes to these things, but I'm not that dense. I've always hated guys that were that dense (on TV or otherwise) and I promised myself that I would never be dense enough to not see when a girl was throwing herself at me. Looking back, I sort of acted like that with Cheza, but the difference was that I think I've always known how Cheza felt—I was just in extreme denial about it.

"I'll give you one more hint: I'm older than Chezarei," Natasha whispers while moving towards my face.

So as I see Natasha, turned towards me and thrusting her chest out, I know exactly what she is trying to do, even with my relative lack of experience in this area (relative to Jason, that is). In fact, it is precisely because I lack great experience in this area that I know that this is a trap. It is also most likely the reason why Cheza was so reasonable before. However, I'm not going to trip this trap. I'm going to turn it around in my favor.

Natasha moves steadily towards my face until she is about six inches away: Perfect.

"I'm sorry, Natasha! I can't! I feel too strongly towards Chezarei to betray her trust like this!" I exclaim, perhaps a little too dramatically, after putting my hand up to stop her.

"Then why is your hand on my breast?" Natasha quietly asks while not retreating.

It seems that I have miscalculated. I freeze and start sweating bullets. I pray that Cheza can't see this.

(Too late)

Airi says as I hear Natasha's phone start ringing. The ringtone is organ music that sounds like it requires an accompanying thunderstorm to be complete, but it still spells _death_.

"Hello?" Natasha asks, answering her phone. "Why yes, he is right here!"

I start pleading with my eyes for her to just let me get a ten second head start.

"You wish to talk to him?"

Please, Natasha! Have mercy!

Her response: No dice.

"Well, his hands are a little preoccupied at the moment. It's funny that you should call right now. He was just telling me that, unlike in school, there are some situations in life where a D is just far superior to a B!"

That whore just threw me under the bus!

"Chezarei wishes to speak with you, Cole. Can you give up one of your handfuls to hold the phone instead?" I nod in affirmation as I feel all six tires run over my carcass, and then once again as the driver backs up to see if they hit something. I reach for the phone with an unsteady left hand.

"Cheza, this isn't what it looks like," I say while holding the phone slightly away from my ear, expecting there to be some screaming. What I hear is much worse.

"Cole, if you do not remove your right hand from Natasha's breast this instant, I am going to cut that hand off when you return home," Cheza says with her voice uninflected. This is really bad...

"Yes ma'am," I say while quickly letting my hand fall.

"Now, here's what's going to happen. You are going to finish this investigation, you are going to come home, and we are going to have a little chat," Cheza explains.

"Yes ma'am," I reply.

"Good boy," *click*

Natasha can no longer control her laughter, and starts dying.

"Haha ha... so, what have we learned?" Natasha asks when she has calmed down.

"That, when given the choice, you will always choose the option that is the most amusing?" I reply.

"No... well yes, there is that, but it's not what I was referring to. When you see the trap coming, you have to spring the reversal early on or you risk running into the trap anyway," Natasha explains.

"Yes, that is an important lesson that I've learned today," I solemnly say.

"Well, now that the fun is over, we need to review the faces and names of each member of the fraternity. The information just might be useful," Natasha says while pulling up a database on her phone.

...

Chapter 14: Save your energy for the party! You'll probably have to fight someone.

We head to the house when enough people show up for us to be unobtrusive. I'm not sure what this fraternity is called, but I know that delta is in its name. My Greek is terrible, but I am positive that I know delta, theta, and mu... wait, delta is the triangle, right?

"Here, we may need these," Natasha says while handing me an ASU student ID.

As it turns out, she's right. There's a guy at the door checking student ID and normal ID. I don't remember his face from the photos of members, so he must be hired help. We walk in the house and are met by a grand staircase in front of us, a large dining room on the left, and hallways on each side of the staircase that lead into the kitchen and out to the backyard. The band and a professional looking bar are set up out back so that's where most of the party is. Natasha and I order a couple drinks, so as not to stand out, and then we circle back inside.

We sweep through the dining room, finding nothing suspicious. As we enter the foyer, we become held up by a large grouping of people. Suddenly, I spot a hand reaching toward Natasha's ass. I reach out, snatch it by the wrist, and turn towards the perpetrator. It's a white guy dressed in jeans and a black button-up, who is quite obviously high on cocaine. He's maybe a year younger, two inches taller, and a bit slimmer than I.

"Touching without having asked is impolite," I scold him as his face warps into a particular scowl.

*Sigh* I am quite familiar with this face.

"Let's take this outside so we don't interrupt these people's festivities," I say.

"FINE BY ME!" he shouts, clearly interrupting the festivities of those around us.

I catch Natasha's eye and nod to her, indicating that she should use my distraction to continue searching. She nods in return, thankfully understanding the situation. I follow the Polar Bear, as I am so cleverly calling him because of his larger stature and his fondness for coke-not-a-cola, out the front door. A gathering of roughly thirty people stand around to watch.

"I'M HERE, JUST TRYING TO HAVE A GOOD TIME, AND YOU ARE FUCKING MY SHIT UP!" The Polar Bear shouts.

"Is the good time that you are referring to before or after you tried to grab my girlfriend's ass?" I calmly ask and hear a girl giggle in response.

Polar Bear decides he is done talking and takes a swing at me. I dodge and back up while he presses forward and keeps punching at me. It's apparent that he has been in a few fights, but it's similar to if Pacquiao fought a child—it just feels like he is moving so slowly. I decide to give these people a show as I duck under one of his punches and pop him in the solar plexus before backing off.

My jab knocks the wind out of him, but it seems to only make him angrier. He punches at my face and I allow it to get close before sweeping it aside with my right hand, causing it to swish past my ear. I follow up with a quick pop to his jaw with my left hand. He looks a bit dazed, and then a particular smile pops up on his face that I recognize as the same smile that Dwight had just before his buddy put me in a full nelson. I quickly spin as I hear several gasps, and see that Polar Bear's friend has a knife in his right hand, aimed at my stomach.

I have this negative experience associated with knives and my stomach, so all bets are off for Polar Bear's friend. I dodge to the left as I grab his right hand with my right, and deliver a quick left punch to his extended elbow while prying the knife from his hand.

Polar Bear hasn't moved as he watches in shock at his friend, who is on his knees screaming while his arm wobbles around like a noodle making me feel all tingly.

(Finish him. Slam the knife through the top of his head and break the blade off in his skull)

It takes a bit of will to resist Airi's suggestion. "No, he's human and I can't afford to lose my cool right now."

"Really? Bringing a knife while you ambush me in a one-on-one fight?" I ask as I smack his friend on the forehead with the handle of his knife.

"No! Bad Boy! No!" I scold, like I just caught him piddling on the carpet, wagging the knife at him for effect.

I walk towards Polar Bear, who looks like he's about to take a swing at me.

"Are you fucking kidding me, dude? I just mopped the floor with your friend and he had the element of surprise, not to mention a knife. So you should just take your friend to the emergency room because his screaming is giving everyone a headache. Oh, and give this back to him. I don't need it," I say as hand him the knife and walk past him, towards the car.

I get quite the round of cheers from the crowd as I walk down the road and get into my car. I watch in the rearview as the president of the fraternity comes out while Polar Bear and his friend shuffle off down the road. I listen in as the president says what I was expecting:

"Don't let the other guy, the one with the grey jacket, back into the party," The guy checking ID nods.

(Swap jumpers and make another move)

"Ah, From the Ritz to the Rubble by Arctic Monkeys. Nice choice."

I take my jacket off and get out of my car as I watch the president walk back to the party. I walk up to the door and show the guy my ID's. He clears me through, but stops me as I pass by him.

"I know that you're the guy from before. I just want to let you know that I saw the whole thing and I think that you were completely in the right. Where is that girlfriend of yours though?" he whispers.

"Thanks. She had to use the bathroom really bad. That's where we were headed when that guy tried to grab her ass. I told her to go on ahead, thinking that I might be a little while and she will probably have to wait in line," I whisper back.

"I see. Just head down the hallway on the right and take a right at the kitchen," he says while pointing.

I thank the door guy and head for the hallway. I pause halfway down the hallway when I see a set of closed double doors, which are possibly suspicious because none of the other doors are closed. Even the bedroom doors upstairs appeared to be open from the ground floor. I check to make sure that none of the fraternity members are watching before I slip inside.

The closed off room turns out to be a study with four full bookcases on each side wall, with a fireplace on the back wall. There are two leather lounge chairs by the fireplace, which include an accompanying ottoman, side table, and lamp. Nothing looks really suspicious. Natasha said that they have been attempting summons... isn't that something you would need instruction on?

(Yes, it is)

I begin searching the shelves, but nothing really stands out. The title selection is fairly reminiscent of Uncle Eric's office... no, that is completely coincidental. Then again, this is the only room in the right wing and the doors are in the middle of the hallway, but this room doesn't seem to span the distance to the front of the house. Well, I suppose I can check.

I walk over to the right wall of bookcases and start searching the underneath the bottom shelves. At the cross section between cases two and three, I feel a lever. After pulling that lever, I hear a familiar click. I grab the edge of the case and pull, revealing a winding stone staircase leading down.

Jinkies! When did my life turn into a series of Scooby Doo mysteries? I consider going to find Natasha first, but since my life is apparently being governed by the laws of Scooby Doo, we would have to split up at the bottom of the staircase anyway! Jason would show up, wearing a white and blue shirt with an orange ascot, and say "Let's split up gang! I'll go with the hot one and try to hook up with her in the kitchen while you can take the dog and the homely smart chick, CT!"

So I decide to trek this staircase solo, making sure to shut the bookcase behind me. I get about halfway down before I trip and tumble down the rest of the stairs. Why doesn't anybody ever spring for lighting on these damn things!?

It's pretty damn dark down here. The only source of light is a candle on the table to my right. I can barely make out a round, barred cage in the center of the room. As I get closer, I start to see a huddled form with a blanket wrapped around it. I step up to the edge of the cage and the figure starts shaking. I slowly reach my hand in and grab the blanket as the figure flinches. I lift up the blanket a little bit and I see the face of a small frightened girl, possibly of Middle Eastern descent, but it is difficult to tell with the low lighting... hell, this might not even be a girl at all...

(Surprise!...of the Shanghai variety)

"No I was more thinking along the lines of when they turn the lights on at 'last call' and you discover you've been talking to a pool cue for the past forty minutes."

"Don't be afraid, I'm here to help. I'll have you out of this cage in a second," I gently tell her.

"WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE!?" I turn and see two of the fraternity's members standing by the candle. I recognize both of them from the pictures of the last group of pledges.

"Man, thank god you guys came! I am suuuuuper lost. I somehow found myself in here and I noticed the cages. I knew this fraternity was awesome, but I didn't think you guys were this awesome! Can I rush next semester?" I ask as I slowly reach for my switchblade... which is in my jacket pocket. Dammit! I really wish I would have kept that guy's knife now.

"Suuuure, you can rush next semester! First, we really need to show you something, but all the lights have to be out to do it," one member says as he leans toward the candle. Just before he blows it out, I notice both of the members pull out foot-long, curved daggers from behind their backs.

My 'combat vision' kicks on as the candle goes out. I now realize why there is never any lighting in the secret staircases: gods don't need light to see. The gold of their bodies is illuminated in my vision as they speed towards me. These gods must be on a lower tier, because I'm faster than them. Playing ignorant as their blades slash towards my neck, I duck under their blades and stick my right wrist into the air, allowing one of the daggers to slice some skin off. I quickly start the draw for my Mu-cutter. They're smart enough to start coming in at different elevations, so I run around the rather large secret basement.

The Mu-cutter connects as the two gods come at me from the front and back, so I wait until the god that is rushing in from behind gets closer. I duck down while spin backwards and to the left to horizontally bisect the god as I spin around him. I use his hunched over form as a springboard to launch myself up in the air for a vertical slash on the second god. The other god is able to recover from the shock of seeing his comrade cut in half quickly enough to get his dagger up in a defensive position. The Mu-cutter just slices through the god's dagger, into his head, and through his body as if they were made of warm butter.

The horizontally bisected god is screaming his head off, sounding like a beautiful melody, but I don't have time to get lost in it. I walk over and vertically bisect the upper half to cut off the screaming. I have to keep my priorities straight, my priorities being: free the girl, find Natasha, and get the hell out of here. Worst case scenario, the entire last pledge class is comprised of gods and there are nine more.

"LOOK OUT!" I hear shouted in a high-pitched, singsong fashion that is far from mocking.

I look over and see a petite girl standing naked in the cage and pointing behind me. However, I'm a little distracted by the pearlescent center of her aura—oh, and the feathered wings on her back... it might solely be the wings that I'm distracted by. This girl is either an angel or a fairy. A Middle Eastern angel fairy? No wait, she's a Peri: a Persian fairy. Sara told me that when Islam came around, people believed them to be fallen angels because of their white, feathered wings. However, before Islam they were regarded as figures of light. They were often captured and put in iron cages by the... Daeva. Fuck me. I'm fighting Persian reject-gods that are supposedly the personifications of every imaginable evil... And I'm guessing that roughly half a dozen are behind me, right?

I turn around and see that it isn't half a dozen, it's three quarters of a dozen Daeva and the fraternity's president with a golden aura. Oh and look! It's the president of the fraternity and two others thrusting scimitars into my chest! And lookie there! They're leaving the blades in!

'Well fuck!' I think as a blade pierces my heart and I crumple to the floor.

"Sorry Cheza... it looks like we aren't going to be having that 'little chat' after all, heh," I say with the last of my breath and cough up some blood as my body starts to go numb.

My vision blackens as I fade away.

(You are not allowed to die just yet, Cole)

"Airi?" I ask as the voice overlaps and lowers in pitch.

(You are still a necessary piece)

The voice lowers and overlaps again. Now it sounds as if a dozen differently pitched voices are speaking in unison.

(Since the Daeva are our responsibility, in a manner of speaking, we will help you just this once)

I feel my hand reach up to the back of my neck before my fingernails scratch the skin open. A silver liquid suddenly envelopes my head and then solidifies. There is a red slit in this... thing... that allows me to see the entire room as clear as day. I stand to my feet and cup some of the blood that is flowing from my chest with each hand. I hear laughter using the creepy 'overlapping people' voice as I hold my two handfuls of blood out at shoulder level before clapping both of my hands together.

As I pull my hands apart, two, clear, Talwar scimitars form in each hand. The Talwar is a curved, single-edge blade of Indian origin that is easily identified by the unique disc hilt.

'I am not a fan of single-edge blades.' As I think that, the blades each morph into clear, straight, three inch wide, double-edge blades. The hilt is the same as it is on my new Sic dagger at home, but the diamond on the cross guard is complete without a sheath. The five sides of the diamonds unfold outward in three layers.

'They look like some sort of flower.' I think as my aura coats the blades. Suddenly the blades lengthen slightly while dividing out into three separate, inch wide, blades that point forward. They remind me of bladed trident points except that instead of the blades connecting into a square base, they connect into a triangular base.

I notice Natasha is down here as one of the Daeva drops her unconscious form onto the ground. I finally realize that the laughter is somehow coming from me as my body rushes forward faster than my senses can comprehend. Everything looks like a blur, but I am aware as I cut off an arm here and a leg there while moving towards the Deev that had Natasha. I start to hear the shrieks of pain from the other Daeva as I slice all the limbs off of the Deev that dropped Natasha, leaving him screaming on the floor with his three other comrades.

The remaining six Daeva have backed up into a circle while facing outward with their swords guarding their bodies. I slice into the first one and sprint in a circle around the Daeva, cutting through their swords and eviscerating every one. I make another run around while slicing through their knees. Standing in the center of the fallen Daeva, I listen to the chorus of their agony while feeling a strange sense of bliss.

I walk over to the cage, slice through the iron bars, and throw the stunned Peri over my left shoulder while ensuring that she is covered with the blanket. I walk over to Natasha, gently lift her over my right shoulder, and head up the basement steps. While walking up the steps, I notice that the swords' cross guards are complete diamonds again, the blade is back down to a single tip, and my aura is no longer surrounding them. I exit the book case, leaving the door open so that I can hear their screams as the Daeva slowly disintegrate. I exit the study and walk into the foyer. The partygoers just stare at me in complete disbelief as they block the door.

"Please move," I ask in the creepy overlapping voice, unable to comprehend how I'm talking without working lungs.

A feminine scream pierces the air and everybody panics as they rush to get the hell away from me. Is it something I said? I walk outside and head towards the car as people continue to scream and run away.

"COLE!" I hear Cheza scream as she, Tia, and Kira appear out of nowhere. Cheza runs towards me, but slows down as she looks at me.

"Cole?" Cheza asks uncertainly.

"I'm alright, Cheza," I think.

"Cole... there are three swords in your chest and your heart isn't beating," Cheza says like it's some sort of secret.

"We need to get him back to the house, like now!" Tia urgently exclaims.

"Agreed, he is drawing far too much attention," Kira says as she and Tia rush over and grab one of my arms, before Tia grabs Cheza with her free hand.

It suddenly feels like I'm falling, and then we are standing in the living room of our house. I toss the stunned Peri on the couch before carefully setting Natasha down as she may have a concussion or some other head injury.

"Alright, everybody grab a handle. We all pull on three:" Tia orders while grabbing the center handle. Cheza grabs the hilt of the blade that is in my heart, and Kira grabs the final hilt.

"One, two, three!" Tia exclaims and they yank the blades from my chest.

I don't feel a thing as the blades slide out. I look down and see that I'm standing in a puddle of blood, despite having been here less than a minute.

"Airi, status."

(1.9 Liters remaining. You will regain consciousness in about 14 hours. Blood regeneration will be complete in 19 hours and 22 minutes, unaided)

"I will wake up in about fourteen hours. I'll explain everything then," I think to Cheza as I fall forward into Tia.

"Oh, Cole..." Cheza says as she looks at me with tears in her eyes while mine close.

...

Chapter 15: The Birth of the Executioner

[May 26th]

I awaken in my bed at 2:02pm and find that everything is tinted red. What the hell is this? Everything shifts as the tint fades. I stand and walk to my bathroom, passing by the two swords from last night, which are propped up against my dresser. I look at my reflection in the mirror and in addition to seeing that I'm wearing nothing but clean cargo shorts, I see that I'm wearing a silver helmet that I'm guessing has eye holes that can turn red. The eye slit shifts and starts to glow as everything turns red.

'Okay enough of that. Turn back.' I think and they do.

I take a good look at the silver helmet and see that it form fits around my head, but the face plate is just a wrap-around oval shape. It sort of reminds me of Iron Man's helmet, but without the pronounced brow or gaunt looking cheeks. Where Iron Man always looks angry, this helmet looks more enigmatic.

"COLE!" Cheza screams as she runs over and hugs me.

"Hey Cheza," I reply with the creepy overlapping voice.

"Fuck me... is my voice always going to be like this now?" I say as I try pull the helmet off of my head.

"We weren't able to take that off while you were sleeping, Cole..." Cheza says as I continue my efforts.

"Why. Won't. This. Damn. Thing. Come. Off!?" I shout while tugging against the jaw of the helmet. The helmet suddenly warps into the silver liquid from last night and rewinds off of my face, towards the back of my head, before disappearing.

"That's better—much better!" I exclaim when I realize that my voice is back to normal.

"Cole, there's something on the back of your neck," Cheza says.

I turn my back to the mirror and look over my shoulder, but the twisting distorts whatever is on my neck.

"Hold on," Cheza says while running out of my room. She comes back with small mirror and holds it up to my neck.

"I think it's a lotus," Cheza says as I see a silver pattern on the back of my neck.

I think Cheza may be right. It looks like a side view of a five-petal lotus, but the petals are pointier than an actual lotus and the base looks more like a trapezoid then a semicircle. In fact, it is fairly reminiscent of the unfolded cross guards on the swords from last night.

"I'm pretty sure you're right," I tell her as I touch the raised silver lotus. "I was kind of hoping it would be a barcode. That way I could shave my head and walk around with fiber wire and silenced pistols while I assassinate people. You know, like Timothy Olyphant,"

"You already do one of those," Cheza mentions.

"Yeah, I guess one for three isn't too bad," I respond.

"Besides, I like your hair," Cheza says as she runs a hand through my hair. She proceeds to grab my hair and uses it to pull my head down towards her to kiss me.

"Well then, I guess now I'm glad that it's not a barcode so I don't have to shave my head," I say with a smile.

Then my hearing picks up on a conversation that I'm unsure I want to hear.

"You mean that you've known he can do this the whole time and didn't think to tell me!?" Kira exclaims from Sara's room.

"We will have to eliminate him. He's a threat to all of us as well as Chezarei," Kira calmly states.

"WE WILL DO NO SUCH THING!" Tia shouts. "The only people that Cole is a threat to are our enemies, and anyone who wishes harm to Chezarei!"

"You are letting your affection for the boy blind you! He is nothing but a mistake, Tia! Last night he single handedly killed a dozen Daeva! He is too dangerous to be left alone!" Kira exclaims with an urgent tone.

"Cole? What's wrong?" I hear Cheza say, sounding like she's far away from me.

"THAT BOY IS NOT A MISTAKE!" Tia yells.

"You paint him as a monster, but he is nothing of the sort. I carved that boy to pieces while training him and he only came close to killing me when I stupidly pushed him over the edge," Tia argues.

"Tia, stop talking," Sara says under Tia's voice.

"Yet he was able to fight it and stop his swing from hitting my neck at massive strain to his own body!" Tia finishes.

"YOU MEAN THE OVERRIDE COMMANDS DON'T WORK!?" Kira shouts, accompanied by the sound of a sword being drawn. I watch in the mirror as the five petals of the pointy lotus flower spring from the back of my neck and fluidly wrap around my head.

"Cole?" Cheza asks with concern as the eyes on the helmet turn red.

"Of course they don't! Illapa would have slaughtered him and taken Chezarei if they did work! How did you think Cole managed to defeat a head of a mid-tier pantheon?" Tia asks.

"Tia, you really need to stop talking," Sara suggests. I can almost see her squeezing her eyes shut while she shakes her head.

"Kira, you don't have to worry about Cole. I threw a knife through his neck yesterday and nearly killed him, but he didn't even do anything! Chezarei _did_ try to kill me, but that was sort of the point..." Tia comments.

"Speaking of which, why are Chezarei's abilities coming out now? She shouldn't have enough Fae blood in her for them to manifest," Kira suggests.

What the hell does she mean by Fae blood?

"Well, it probably has something to do with Cole's bl—"

"GODS TIA WILL YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH!" Sara screams.

"Quiet Sara! Tia, you were saying?" Kira sternly says.

"It probably has something to do with Cole's peril. Chezarei's abilities first appeared after Cole was shot in the neck. They have a really deep connection," Tia covers.

"Yes, about that. How did Chezarei know about Cole's situation last night?" Kira asks and Tia freezes up.

"Tia... do you ever think before words leave your mouth? Seriously? We may as well just tell Kira the truth now!" Sara exclaims.

I look over at a concerned Cheza.

"Stay here. I'll be right back," the creepy overlapping voice orders.

"Cole! What's happening!?" Cheza asks as I take off in a full sprint to Sara's room.

I knock on Sara's door and walk in. Kira looks at me warily and I realize that I'm still wearing the helmet. I touch the back of my neck and politely ask it to retract.

(Only because you asked politely)

"Wait, so you control the helmet, Airi?"

(I can, yes)

"Well that's good. I was beginning to think that the helmet was some sort of parasite!"

"That's better," I say after the helmet retracts. "I believe I can answer that question for you Kira."

I go about carefully retelling our story while leaving Airi out of it because Tia hasn't totally fucked that secret yet. I tell Kira about how my Drive is gone, how I used the remainder of my blood to restart Cheza's heart, and about our resulting connection. I make sure to leave out the Mu-cutter and the tendrils since the creepy helmet probably has her freaked out enough as it is.

"I see. Your silver eye color makes more sense now. It is slightly reassuring to know we don't have to worry about you snapping and killing everyone. So you and Chezarei can feel each other's pain and speak to each other telepathically?" Kira asks after I finish.

"Yes, but it seems there are restrictions, such as distance, and there are times when we are completely blocked from each other. Also, it appears that we can transfer memories or images to each other over a much further distance. That's how Cheza knew about my situation last night. The images we send to each other are often unintentional; otherwise, she never would have known about last night," I reply and Tia's phone starts ringing.

"Hello... On speaker? Okay," Tia says as she presses the speaker button.

"Auntie Kira, if you do not put that sword away this instant, I am coming over there to attack you. See, Cole? I stayed put just like you said, but only because the last time I didn't, it resulted in you getting three bullets in your stomach," Cheza says through the speaker.

"Yes you did. Thank you, Cheza," I say as Kira puts the sword away. "I seem to send her far more unintentional images than she sends to me. I think I've only ever received one actually..."

"Well, in light of recent events, it is rather pointless for The Faction to continue with this 'power struggle façade'. Alright, we have two courses of action. One: I pretend that I didn't see or hear any of this and I continue by telling The Faction about Loki's attempt to capture Cheza last week by calling a meeting for tomorrow. Going with this course of action ties in with an intricate web of lies where The Agency notifies Sara about Illapa and Tia eliminates him in the same fashion that Inti was killed," Kira says.

"Um, how was Inti killed? No one has told me yet," I ask.

"Anti-material rifle with high explosive incendiary armor piercing rounds, along with a great deal of luck," Tia quietly answers. Yeah I suppose a round that is designed to punch through tank armor would probably kill a god.

"Option two: I name you Executioner and I introduce you to The Faction as a controlled weapon so that it doesn't start a witch hunt that results in everyone trying to kill you instead of trying to stop Loki. This plan involves having you sent around to different sections that are under suspicion of treason, or those that are having troubles of a coup-like nature," Kira finishes.

"Do you mean that I'd have to do repeat performances of Hawaii?" I ask.

"Why? What happened in Hawaii?" Kira asks.

"Tia, what did you report for the events in Hawaii?" I blatantly ask.

"Um... that Pele killed Ku and her brother. Your actions were easy to conceal because Pele is the representative within The Faction," Tia quietly says. Kira raises her hands to rub both of her temples.

"Would someone please just tell me what actually happened?" Kira asks, exasperated.

I retell of my torturing and threatening of the entire Polynesian pantheon as Kira becomes less sure of me with each passing second.

"If that is what happened, then it sounds like the perfect 'performance' to play for other similar situations," Kira warily says.

"Well, I think Cole will be taking option one!" Tia says.

(Option two)

"I'm not listening to you on this one, Airi," That was surprisingly easy to resist...

(Consider it for a moment. Option two entitles you to that feeling you have when you torture your enemies. More importantly, it allows you to better protect Cheza by removing inside threats to her safety)

"Kira... I'm going with option two," I quietly respond.

I know it's going to lead to that further descent into madness, but it does protect Cheza more thoroughly. It also helps that I noticed that Airi's suggestion was just facts without any compulsion.

"No Cole!" Cheza shouts in my mind. "You can't!"

"I'm sorry Cheza, but I have to," I think to her.

"Make me Executioner," I say to Kira.

"Cole! Are you sure about this?" Tia asks.

"I'm positive," I reply.

"Alright, I'll schedule a meeting for tomorrow," Kira says and then disappears.

"Cole... are you sure that you haven't been influenced into doing this?" Tia asks, concern obvious on her face.

"Airi did suggest it, but I didn't listen until she pointed out that it would enable me to eliminate any inside threats to Cheza," I explain.

"Cole, up until now you've faced lower level deities. Even Illapa wasn't very high up on the deity scale," Tia says.

"How do you mean? Could you explain this better?" I ask.

"The strength of deities relies on belief and recognition, so basically it relies on the media and Neopaganism. The scale goes in a pyramid shape with obscure deities like the Polynesian pantheon, a lot of African deities, most of the Native American deities etc. The mid-range includes, the Incan pantheon, Mesopotamian pantheon, etc. Lower-High range includes Celtic, Aztec, Slavic, Egyptian, etc. Upper-High range is Norse/Germanic, Greek/ Roman, and Shinto. Last, there is the supreme category which is solely comprised of certain Hindu/Buddhist gods, who have the most current followers. Understandable if you consider that they are part of the third and fourth largest religions in the world," Sara explains.

"It also varies by the strengths of each god too, so that is a really broad generalization. For instance, I only categorize as a mid-range deity, because I don't have any special skills that are combat applicable, even though the Aztec pantheon is in the lower-high range. On the other hand, Pele categorizes as a lower-high range god despite the Polynesian pantheon ranking in the low range. It has a lot to do with the ranking inside each pantheon," Tia adds.

"Okay, I think I get it. Who has sided with the Norse?" I inquire.

"We don't really know. We are only certain that the Slavic pantheon and the Shinto pantheon have both sided with the Norse," Tia answers. I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes.

"So the Norse not only have a giant snake and a giant wolf, but they also have dragons? What is the chance of there being seven orbs that you can bring to this dragon and he grants you a wish? Are there aliens that can shoot balls of energy out of their hands or turn into giant monkeys during a full moon, too!?  Why can't we just deal with the Candy God!?" I exclaim.

"Jeez Cole... you botch everything I taught you about Shintoism, but you do remember that they have Tajimamori, the god of sweets?" Sara asks while shaking her head. "You are wrong on all accounts Cole. Most descriptions of gods are of their qualities, so no, the Norse don't have a giant snake, a giant wolf, or dragons."

"That being said, I don't want you going up against any of those guys. We need to make you faster somehow..." Tia says while I remember the question that I need to ask.

"Airi, focus all efforts to block out Cheza."

(That won't be difficult, she is angry at you for your decision)

"What did Kira mean about 'Fae blood'?" I quietly ask. Tia and Sara both tense up.

"What are you talking about!? Kira didn't say Fae blood, she said Fa Bleu. It's a type of magical cheese grown in the frozen tundra of France!" Tia blurts out in a panic, interrupting Sara's open mouth.

"Cole, could you wait here for a moment while I fetch the ball-gag from Tia's room?" Sara asks while glaring at Tia with malicious intent.

"I'M SORRY! I PANICKED!" Tia shouts.

"We need to talk about this," I sternly reply.

"We also need to talk about that helmet and the new swords," Sara says, transparently trying to change the subject.

"*Sigh* We can talk about those things later. I want to check on Natasha and the Peri, where are they?" I ask while rubbing my temples, but still glad to have some extra time to figure out how much I should tell them about last night.

"Well, Natasha has a serious concussion so she is in her room resting and I think that the Peri is outside. She's been refusing to talk to anyone, though," Sara replies.

I thank her and head towards the living room. I expand my hearing when I arrive there. Cheza is downstairs in the basement beating the crap out of a bag (while probably imagining that it's me) and I hear someone sigh outside in the backyard.

I head out there and see the Peri lying on the grass, which has grown to surround her body. It looks like a grass-angel, except that the Peri's arms are by her sides. I see bruises of various sizes on her arms that I couldn't notice last night. Rather than being white, her wings are pearlescent in color and very noticeable out in the sun. Her black, shoulder-length hair, which is parted from the right and tucked behind her left ear, has kind of a purple sheen.

"I figured you would be out here. If I had been locked in a cage in a windowless room, I would probably want to spend some time outside too," I announce, noticing her flinch at the sound of my voice. As I get closer, I notice that she is wearing nothing but one of my white t-shirts, most likely with the back cut out for her wings. Thankfully, Hanes t-shirts come in packs. Maybe that should be a new sales pitch:

Hanes: For when the naked fairy that you rescued needs clothes.

"Oh, hello! How do you feel? You look quite well for a dead person!" the Peri says in a high-pitched singsong fashion that I am now realizing is just her voice.

She rises to her feet... and I realize why she isn't wearing some of Cheza's clothes. This girl is only about three and a half feet tall so she can wear my shirt like a long dress. I think I'm starting to understand how Tinkerbell ended up being four inches tall.

"You know, I get that all the time!" I exclaim as I notice her shaking slightly just from speaking to me.

"Really?" the Peri asks while raising an eyebrow at me, her pretty purple eyes looking slightly frightened.

"No, not really," I answer with a smile. "Anyway, I'm Cole."

"My name is Lila. Thank you for rescuing me," Lila says and rushes forward to hug me, her head only coming up to my navel. "And I'm sorry that you became injured because of me."

"Oh, it isn't your fault," I say while moving my arms to try and hug her back or something, but when there is a tiny girl with wings hugging you, your brain tends to just say '...what?' So I end up patting her on the head. She flinches at first before giggling at my reaction as she pulls away. She seems to be warming up to me. Good, this girl has been through enough to deserve to relax around the person who rescued her.

"So... can you fly?" I ask as though it's some kind of secret that she has wings on her back. Lila smiles and unfurls her wings. She flaps them thrice and goes about a foot off of the ground before landing.

"How did you make the grass grow?" I inquire.

"All fairies have some control over nature," Lila answers.

"Okay, next question: how old are you?" I ask.

"Thirteen," Lila replies.

(No touching)

"I am shocked by that suggestion Airi! I'm suddenly a whole lot angrier at the Daeva that I left in pieces on the ground to die slowly and painfully... Actually, I probably couldn't have done much worse to them so I guess it about equals out."

"Alright... should we... call your parents or something?" I ask. I'm sure that's the standard protocol for rescuing a small naked girl from kidnappers... probably... but is it the standard protocol for fairy girls?

"Call?" Lila asks while cocking her head to the side.

"I guess they don't have phones in the fairy world... Are you hungry? What do you eat?" I ask, slightly flustered.

"The blood of virgins," Lila says with a blank expression.

"...I'll ask Cheza," I reply, a lot more flustered than before. I think I might be in way over my head.

"That was a joke," Lila says with a smile.

"Hey, take it easy on me! I've never met a fairy before!" I exclaim with a light chuckle.

"And I've never met someone that could talk to me after getting stabbed in the chest with three swords!" Lila replies while replicating my demeanor.

"...Are you human?" Lila carefully inquires, like she is afraid that I'll beat her for asking.

"Yes, I'm human," probably. I don't want to freak her out so I leave out that last part.

A wooden and silver spear suddenly sticks into the ground by my right foot. I quickly snatch it up and cut my left arm with it as I deflect a second spear before throwing the first spear at the two flying white men with black wings, white outlines, and sparkly white centers. I score a hit, just not the one I was aiming for. The spear sticks into one of their thighs instead of a torso or head.

I turn around and pick up Lila before getting tackled from my left side. I hold Lila close to me as I feel us start to fall.

Chapter 16: I'm Screwed... Or Am I?

"Airi, helmet," I tell her as I punch the face of the guy that is currently lying on top of me. I reach forward and grab the guy's left arm, utilizing the extra space I made with my punch. I get him into an arm bar, snap his forearm, and stand to my feet while he is writhing in pain.

"Just stay down, Lila!" I order while the helmet wraps to the front of my face. I kick the screaming guy in the face, knocking him out.

I look around and take stock of my situation. We are currently in the middle of a white marble gazebo that seems to be on top of a grassy hill. More importantly, there are a dozen of the black-winged guys with spears advancing towards me less than twenty feet away.

I stick my right finger tips on my left arm and continuously fling out four needles as I quickly spin in a circle several times. Now, I'd like to say that each of the four needles from each throw were perfectly placed and they all flew straight into each of the twelve jugulars surrounding me, but that isn't the case. Instead, it's more like I'm just flinging them wildly at their faces. I am really glad that these things only take 20 milliliters of blood to make because I must throw around a hundred of these things in four rotations. By the time I stop spinning, all of the winged guys are on the ground screaming with needles stick out of their faces.

I take a knee to dispel my dizziness. I look over at Lila and see the same stunned expression as last night. Man, I am seriously fucking up this kid with the amount of violence I'm subjecting her to... Then again, I did rescue her from being naked in a cage. Catching movement out of the corner of my eye, I turn my head and see two figures with golden auras... just my luck.

"Sorry Lila, it looks like I misinterpreted the situation. Instead of protecting you, I just dragged you into my fight," my creepy sounding voice says as I start the draw for a Mu-cutter in my left hand, which should be interesting because my left-handed swordplay is not very skillful.

(You will be rendered unconscious before you complete the Mu-cutter)

"W-W-What?" I ask, praying that I misheard her.

(You only have 3.5 Liters of blood remaining)

"Make a smaller Mu-cutter!"

(It will not connect)

"WELL WHY NOT!?"

(...you do not have to yell. I do not know, but the Mu-cutter won't connect without at least six feet of string length)

Okay, I have zero hope at killing these guys. Maybe I can get lucky, blind them with needles, grab Lila, and run! Well, it's the only plan I've got...

"WHAT THE FOCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOIN', BOYO!?" I hear shouted behind me with an Irish accent. This Irish accented shout sounds vaguely familiar. "COMIN' INTO MY REALM AND KILLIN' MY SUBJECTS!?"

"You know, just the other day," I start to say in the creepy overlapping voice as I slowly reach up and touch the back of my neck. "I was trying to figure out if you had called me boyo as a crack about my appearance, our relative ages, or neither."

"I know this voice..." a thoughtful voice says to himself.

"I'm glad to see that it's neither, considering that you couldn't see my face or age under my helmet. Oh, and you two should probably help them out. There shouldn't be any fatalities yet and there won't be if you stop the bleeding. The eyes however... well that's my bad. Airmed should be able to help," I say, instructing the gods in front of me like I own the place.

"It's nice to see you again, Dagda. It's been a while!" I exclaim while turning on my knee to face the six foot tall, elderly gentleman with his curly red hair and a short beard, who happens to be wearing dark blue slacks, a matching blazer, and a captain's hat.

"COLE! HA HA! IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU, BOYO!" Dagda loudly exclaims as he comes over and gives me a hand off of the floor before nodding at the two gods to follow my instructions. "How did you know 'twas me?"

"Well, I heard the accent and combine that with someone who would be in charge of a whole realm, and it was obvious! And man, was I relieved to hear you. I saw these two in front of me and I started getting a bit nervous. I don't have enough blood left to fight back because of the three swords I took to the chest last night," I explain.

"Come, let's walk; I can show you Tir na nOg and you can explain how you got here," Dagda says as I help Lila to her feet.

"AND YOU HAVE THE YOUNG LASS LILA WITH YOU TOO!?" Dagda exclaims.

"Hey daddy!" Lila cheerfully replies.

"DADDY!?" I incredulously shout.

"HA HA HA! You see, when I first met the lassie, her mam said 'Lila, this here is Dahdah,' and the lass crinkles her nose and says 'if you wanted me to call you daddy, you didn't need to try and trick me to do it.' HA HA!" Dagda regales as I notice Lila's legs shake.

"That is quite the amusing tale!" I tell him.

I scoop Lila up, noticing her flinch when I touch her, and I put her in a cradle carry (also known as a bridal or princess carry). She fidgets around in my arms before she huffs and stays still.

"Cole... this is uncomfortable," Lila says.

"Sorry... I guess the princesses for whom this carry is named didn't have wings. How about this?" I ask, reach underneath her arms, and put her on my shoulders. Lila fidgets around again before she sits still.

"I approve... onward minion!" Lila exclaims while pointing forward.

"Haha, yes princess," I sarcastically reply as Dagda leads onward.

We leave the gazebo and head down the hill, passing by a spring where several water elementals of some sort are playing around. There are green rolling hills and individual groves of trees as far as the eye can see.

I just realized something. I'm glad that my shirt is so long on Lila because she probably doesn't have any underwear on since there is no way that Cheza's would fit her... Oh shit, Cheza! She is probably losing her mind right now!

"CHEZA! CAN YOU HEAR ME!?" I scream in my mind.

"COLE! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Cheza screeches clearly. I guess the reception between our minds is not lessened by interdimensional travel.

"You've had me worried sick, you ass! Are you okay? I can feel that you're calm and not fighting and... is that Dagda with you? And the girl is with you too, right?" Cheza asks.

"Whoa! Slow down! Yes, it is Dagda; yes, Lila is with me; yes, I'm okay; and I'm in Tir na nOg. Not entirely sure as to the 'how' of that last part, but I think one of the guys that attacked us ported us here. I'll keep you updated," I calmly tell her.

"Okay... just come back to me, Cole..." Cheza quietly thinks.

"Of course I will, Cheza. I'll be home in a few hours," I reassure her.

"Okay, now that that's settled, Dagda, I believe I owe you an explanation," I say aloud.

"I believe you do. Explain how you managed to take out thirteen o' my most well trained soldiers now," Dagda says.

"Well, I guess I'll start with how I rescued Lila from a dozen Daeva at a fraternity house in Phoenix," I say.

"Damn! A dozen you say? Is this what Mama Quilla was talkin' about for the emergency meetin' tomorrow?" Dagda asks.

"I guess I should start back a bit further," I say and then I regale a carefully edited story that only includes how I can make things with my blood, the events at last night's party, and what just happened. "I thought they were trying to take Lila at first, but after the two gods showed up, I thought I had it backwards and that I'd accidentally dragged Lila into my fight."

"So they said nothin' now?" Dagda asks.

"Nope, the whole altercation started with a spear near my foot," I reply.

"Well then, I don' blame you lad! But lass, couldn't you tell who they were?" Dagda asks.

"Yeah, they were the same guys that took me in the first place," Lila timorously answers, as though we might smack her for saying such things. "When they took me, I heard them say something about it being Aengus's brilliant plan for him to rule in the new age."

"Are you sure about this Lila?" I ask. I feel her move before she hugs my head and puts her chin on top of it. I'll take that as a yes.

"Dagda, what have you been doing since Lila disappeared and how long has it been?" I ask.

"I've had my forces searchin' for the young lass for almost three days now," Dagda says.

"Then my guess is that he is planning to make his move sometime tonight as he probably knows about Lila being found. Is your relationship with her common knowledge?" I ask.

"It is. After all, it'd be strange if I didn't know the princess o' the fairies!" Dagda informs me.

"Wait, so she's an actual princess!?" I exclaim, my surprise breaking my focus, but I quickly recover.

"Dagda, the meeting tomorrow is to inform The Faction of my status as the new Executioner. Kira is going to have me visit any pantheon that is suspected of having internal revolutions and solve the problem like I did with the Polynesian pantheon. I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds, but I need you to come up with an occasion to gather your entire pantheon in one place. A place where I can challenge Aengus to a duel, a place where he will be honor bound to fight, and a place to maximize the effect of me torturing him to death," I inform him.

"I can hold a celebratory feast for the return o' the princess," Dagda says.

"Perfect. Now, with that being said, the strongest god that I've killed so far has been Illapa so I need to know how fast and strong Aengus is, as well as any special abilities," I tell him.

"How about we port to the palace, have ourselves a fight, and I'll try to match my stupid son's physical prowess?" Dagda suggests.

"Sounds perfect, but we need to take Lila home first. I think we've kept her mother waiting long enough. Oh, and one more thing. Lila, do you want to attend the feast and hear this bastard beg for his life? Or would you rather not see something like that?" I inquire.

"Will he get anything?" she quietly asks, her chin moving my hair with every word.

"For his begging? Possibly my maniacal laughter, but his death will be slow regardless," I blatantly tell her.

"...please let me attend," Lila timidly requests and I look to Dagda for confirmation.

"Aye lass, but we need to get permission from your mam first," he says, snaps his fingers, and I'm overcome with that falling sensation again.

I suddenly find that we are standing in a white marble foyer. Dagda opens the two large doors in front of us that lead to about forty feet of throne room. On the white marble throne at the opposite end of the room sits a beautiful red-haired woman with fair skin, whom appears to have been awake for the past three days.

"Hey mom, I'm home!" Lila shouts above my head.

I reach up and support her back as I sprint at full speed to the throne before stopping and setting Lila on the ground. Her mother kneels down to hug her while in tears. I'm just going to ignore the obvious question of how an Irish woman became the mother of a Persian fairy because it's probably something complicated.

"Aine, this is Cole. He is the one that rescued Lila and he is also the one who is goin' to exact Lila's revenge at the feast I'm holdin' in three hours," Dagda introduces.

"Thank you so much for bringing her back to me, Cole!" Aine exclaims while standing up. She looks at me for a brief moment, perhaps wondering why I'm shirtless, before giving me a hug.

"What does 'exacting Lila's revenge' entail?" Aine asks.

"The torturing and eventual killing of Aengus," I tell her.

"What!? I don't want Lila to be witnessing something like that!" Aine exclaims, understandably.

"Please mom..." Lila quietly begs with tears brimming in her eyes.

"Aine, I found Lila being held by a dozen Daeva in a windowless basement with a small candle as her only source of light. She was naked in a cage with nothing but a blanket. I'm not a parent, but I do believe that Lila has earned the right to watch and listen as the bastard that put her through that hell, begs for his to end," I explain with my tone growing harsher as I speak.

Aine is wearing a horrified expression, and then looks at Lila's face. Aine's eyes return to mine with a renewed determination as she nods.

"I'll see you two in a few hours," I reply and turn my back to nod at Dagda, who snaps his fingers. The world shifts and I get that falling feeling again. Next thing I know, we are standing in a different white marble room that has small alcoves with trees and plants growing in them.

"Hello father. Is the situation at the gate settled?" A blonde haired woman behind me asks. She is about 5'8" with light brown eyes and a magnificent bust that is accented by the green dress that she is currently wearing. The front of the dress is laced up and shows a tremendous amount of cleavage while accentuating her hourglass shape. The woman isn't slender, but she also isn't fat. I might categorize her as husky if I didn't hate that word so much, because it makes me think I'm calling the person a dog... is sturdy any better?

"It is, Brighid. Can you start the preparations for a feast, to be held in three hours time?" Dagda asks.

"Yes father, but what is the occasion?" Brighid asks.

"Lila has returned home. Now then, I need to take care o' somethin'," Dagda says and snaps his fingers.

After the falling feeling, we wind up in an open, grass covered field.

"Are you fine with hand-to-hand combat?" Dagda asks.

"Yes, that's fine. Just try to avoid breaking anything. I heal quickly, but I'll still require a fair amount of time and I already need about an hour's rest before dinner to replenish my blood supply," I inform him.

"Aye boyo. Now in addition to bein' strong and fast, and I assume you already know about the density o' gods' bones, Aengus will also be usin' either Moralltach or Gae Derg: a sword and spear that stop all regeneration on godly levels so you will want to be careful. Let's start by gettin' you accustomed to the speed first," Dagda says.

Dagda takes off at a speed that my eyes can just barely follow; a speed that I'm unsure that I can replicate. I block three punches before Dagda delivers an uppercut to my stomach. I reinforce my abdominal muscles, but the punch still feels like getting hit with a brick and it drops me to a knee.

"Are you sure you're up to this, boyo?" Dagda asks.

"Yeah... luckily I have an ace in the hole, so long as I get my blood level back up. All I really need to do is be fast enough. The weapon I'll be using levels the playing field in strength. Let's go again," I say.

"Cole! What's happening!?" Cheza urgently asks through our connection.

"It's alright, Cheza. I'm just having a friendly sparring match with Dagda. He knows about what is going to be discussed at tomorrow's meeting and he's helping me by showing me how higher level gods fight," I calmly reply while choosing my words carefully. I'm not entirely sure if Cheza can tell when I'm lying through our connection, but I'd rather not chance it right now.

"Well, why can't you both come here and do that?" Cheza inquires. Shit...

"Because there's going to be a feast to celebrate the return of the fairy princess, Lila," I think, hoping that she will be as distracted by the princess thing as I was.

"So Lila's a princess... that's cool. Do you think I could come?" Cheza asks. Well that plan backfired.

"I don't think Dagda would mind. The dinner isn't for a few hours so we will port to the house around then," I reply, keeping it nice and vague so that I am not lying.

"Okay! Should I wear anything in particular?" Cheza asks.

"I really liked that dress you wore to your graduation party. Do you have another one like it?" I inquire.

"Sure, I'll wear that then! I'll see you in a little while!" Cheza thinks.

"Yep, I'll see you soon!" I reply and close the connection.

"Alright, let's go again," I say to Dagda.

We spend the next hour sparring without getting any real results besides getting my eyes adjusted to seeing at that speed.

"I don't feel right sendin' you to fight Aengus, boyo. You will only get kill't," Dagda says.

"I'll be fine as long as I get some rest beforehand. I'm confident that he will never see it coming," I confidently reply, even though I have some doubts.

I'm going to have to be careful about this one. If any of the stories are true, Aengus is smart enough that if he sees a bunch of blood coming from my hand, I will lose my element of surprise, which would be catastrophic.

"Okay, lad. I'll show you to a bed," Dagda says and snaps his fingers.

We are suddenly standing in a bedroom that I'm guessing is back at the palace where Brighid was. The bedroom is simple with only a desk and a queen-sized canopy bed.

"Hey Dagda, I just thought of something. It would be a good idea for us to not eat tonight, in case Aengus poisons the food. The same goes for Lila and Aine as well. It may just be better for me to duel him before dinner starts," I point out.

"Good thinkin' lad! Gods are resistant to poisons, but fairies aren't. Before dinner would probably be best. The duel will muck up the atmosphere, but it is better this way," Dagda says.

"Alright. I'll get some rest now. See you at the feast," I reply and Dagda leaves the room.

I fall backwards onto the bed and I'm out within seconds.

...

Chapter 17: Can't I go to even a single party this week without having to fight somebody?

I'm woken several hours later by a knock on the door as Brighid enters the room.

"My father asked me to come and wake you," she says while wearing the same dress from earlier.

"Hmm? Oh, thank you," I mumble, still slightly asleep.

Brighid frowns and studies me for a moment before snapping her fingers.

"Much better!" Brighid says with a smile and leaves the room.

"Come out when you are ready. Dinner is starting!" Brighid calls out from the hallway.

As I remember some stories about Brighid, I realize that I would probably describe her as 'milftastic'. A thought suddenly pops into my head: the handle for the Mu-cutter is visible in my right hand and since Aengus is supposedly clever, it may be enough to completely fuck things up.

"Airi, any suggestions?"

(The handle is necessary for the Mu-cutter to form)

"Well anything in my hand is going to give me away... can the handle take on a different shape? Like a bracelet for instance?"

(Now you are asking the correct questions. Yes, the handle can take any shape as long as the mass isn't lessened. A bracelet would be adequate, so long as there are two anchor points for the 'blade')

I look around for anything I can use to slice my wrist open. I spot a letter opener on the desk.

"Airi, please block out Cheza until I'm back home," I use the opener to cut across my right wrist. "And, could you please form a bracelet over my cut? I'll leave the design up to your artistic discretion."

I watch as a dark red, two-inch wide, bangle with square holes on the left and right sides wraps around my wrist. A really intricate black symbol forms on the top: (Going from the outside inward) Square with block T-shapes on each side, circle, sun hieroglyph, circle, and then five upside-down triangles. _(5.5 Liters)_

"Thanks, this is certainly interesting, Airi. Is there any meaning behind it?...Airi?"

I guess she doesn't want to talk about it. I head out of the room and in the direction with the most noise. Walking out of a hallway, I see that I am on the balcony of the right side of a banquet hall. At the back of the room is a large U-shaped table where the various gods are sitting, all wearing various semi-formal attire. There is roughly fifty feet at the center of the U. Twenty feet from each of the sides of the U are two rows of six, long tables that follow along the walls and span the length of the room. These tables are all full of winged soldiers wearing leather armor.

Everyone together, there have to be at least three hundred people here. I see Lila and Aine sitting on the end of the left side of the U-shaped table. There is an empty seat next to them that I assume is reserved for myself. Lila is wearing a white sundress that looks nice on her, much better than my t-shirt did at least.

I go back down the hallway, take a right and then a left while looking for a staircase leading down. I take another right and I find myself back on a balcony, but on the left side of the room. I go back down the hallway, take a completely different order of turns, and find myself back on the right balcony again. I go back and try again, this time I walk straight as much as possible and still wind back up on the left balcony.

"To hell with this!" I exclaim in exasperation and look over the edge of the balcony.

It doesn't look that far and there is nothing below me so I jump. I realize that it ended up being a lot further than it looked, as I land behind Aine with a loud thump. Aine yelps, causing everyone in the fairly loud hall to shut up and turn to look at me.

"Uh... I would make some stupid pun about 'just dropping in,' but that isn't really my style and in reality, I just couldn't find the stairs," I say to the hall. This gets a few laughs from a handful of the soldiers, but almost everyone is just staring at me incredulously. I hear giggling from two points in the room.

"Hehe, Cole... what are you wearing!?" Lila asks as she tries to reign in her giggling while pointing at my chest.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" I incredulously say as I look at the faded green, vintage, Lucky Charms t-shirt on my chest. I direct my attention to Brighid, who is sitting to the right of Dagda and is still giggling.

"I couldn't have you coming to dinner shirtless! And yes, I am kidding you. Besides, this is probably more appropriate!" Brighid exclaims, snaps her fingers, and then winks at me as she continues laughing. The shirt stays the same, but now an image of Tinkerbell is on the front; this gets some laughs.

"No wait, I have a better one!" Brighid says as she snaps her fingers again.

Now my shirt has a picture of a Chihuahua and Paris Hilton. It takes me a few seconds to remember that Paris Hilton's Chihuahua is named Tinkerbell, and then I start laughing even though most of the room isn't. I guess this joke was directed at my sensibilities instead of mass appeal. Well, Brighid is the goddess of fire, creativity and poets, and what were poets if not the world's first comedians?

"Okay, this is pretty good! Can you change it to something normal now, please?" I ask.

"Alright, I'll see if I can pick something that suits you..." Brighid replies with a hand on her chin, staring skyward, and then she snaps her fingers.

A hot pink t-shirt with the word _'JUICY'_ bedazzled on the chest.

I laugh along with the rest of the hall as I take my seat, mainly because I'm not sure if this is an insult or a compliment...

_(You are going to look_ _fabulous_ _while you are torturing Aengus to death in a few minutes)_

Oh, right... I had completely forgotten about that. Man... Everyone is having fun and now I have to go and ruin it! This must be what police officers feel like when they break up a party.

"Someone told you about not eating anything, right?" I whisper to Aine and Lila. They both look at me solemnly and nod. "Well, I guess it's about time to start this."

"AENGUS! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!" I shout across the room.

The blonde pretty-boy on the right wing of the U-table is the first to look at me. With the white tux that he is wearing, Aengus looks just how I'd expect a god of love and youth to look. I start the draw for the Mu-cutter from the cut below my bangle as the blood drips from my hand underneath the table.

"We are about to start eating! Perhaps after dinner..." Aengus says with a smile and a haughty English accent that immediately makes me hate him.

"I know that you're the one behind Lila's kidnapping and imprisonment as a ploy to try and take control of the Tuatha De Danann before joining the Norse, so this duel is happening NOW!" I yell as Aengus's face falls and the Mu-cutter connects under the table.

(4.0 Liters. Warning: Slicing through tables is not inconspicuous)

"That is a ludicrous accusation..." Aengus trails off as he looks at his father's angry face.

"Fine. Weapons?" Aengus stoutly asks.

"Any and all! YOU CAN EVEN USE THAT PANSY-ASS MORALLTACH OR GAE DERG!" I shout as I stand, being careful of the Mu-cutter's placement.

I notice that the blade shape has changed from that of a gladius to an elongated pentagon that avoids my right hand. It looks similar to the Volcom logo, with the bangle as the base. Aengus's face darkens as he stands while I see that a gruff face to the left of Dagda is glaring at me. The glaring man has cropped black hair and full beard with a little bit of grey in it. The creases on his face make me think he is in his fifties or sixties, like Dagda, even though I know that they're both much older.

"I meant no disrespect towards your craftsmanship, Manannan mac Lir. I simply meant that in the hands of this poofter, they may as well be butter knives," I say to the glaring Celtic god of the sea. He gives the 'well alright then' nod and I walk around to the center of the U-table.

"May I borrow one of your swords?" I ask while turning towards the soldiers' tables.

A soldier stands up, walks over, and holds the scabbard on his belt up for me to draw the sword.

"Ah, yes. Thank you. This will be adequate enough for me to kill that bastard," I say as I inspect the double-edged long sword that is in my left hand.

"I AM GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" Aengus shouts, finally snapping from my taunting. I guess I chose correctly when thinking that Aengus might be a little sore about the circumstances of his birth.

The soldier runs back to his seat as Aengus storms around the table at the speed of a brisk walk while snapping his fingers. His clothes change into jeans and a t-shirt, and he is holding an ornate sword when he meets me in the center. His face is red with anger as he glares at me while Dagda shouts start in Gaelic... I think. At least I'm pretty sure he said start because Aengus charges at me with Moralltach. I use the sword in my left hand to parry as I look for an opening to take him out.

I am quite clearly outclassed in speed, strength, and skill. With Moralltach being able to cut me to the point where it will never heal, I'm being very careful to avoid his sword. If I use the Mu-cutter carelessly, there is a decent chance that he'll manage to get a slash in that I won't be able to heal, leading to my bloody death. I block six more times while getting pushed back towards the table. I'm really glad the sword is standing up to Aengus's strikes.

Aengus makes a diagonal downward slash from left to right. I extend my left arm out to block it, and I fall into the trap. When I would fence with Uncle Eric, there was a move he would occasionally use that I never got the hang of. He would get me to block an attack that was further away than normal before making a quick circle with his sword, causing it to go around my block, disarming me, and finally finishing with a stab to the chest. I am able to jump back before Aengus gets in the stab to the chest, but not before he disarms me and slices off my left little-finger.

"AHH! FUCK!" I scream as I hear the sword skittering across the marble flooring. I grab my left hand on reflex as it starts to bleed, luckily missing my Mu-cutter.

"Haha! This is the end for you!" Aengus taunts as he slowly advances, sure of his victory.

"Ha ha... hahaha..." I laugh maniacally as my helmet wraps around my head.

"HAHAHAHA!" I continue laughing, my voice warping as the helmet completes.

"YOU THINK THIS TO BE THE END!?" I shout with the creepy overlapping voice as Aengus angrily advances.

"You think that helmet will save you!? THINK AGAIN!" Aengus screams as he makes the type of strike I've been waiting for: a diagonal slash that would sever me from right shoulder to left hip.

'Would' is the keyword there, as I keep my elbow tucked in while I subtly bring my right arm up like I'm waving at him. The Mu-cutter hits his right wrist at the perfect time for the momentum to cause the sword to fly over my shoulder, hand and all, where it clatters to the floor. Aengus's furious face is eliminated as his eyes widen and his brain tries to process how in the hell his hand came off. I follow up with a quick slice through his right knee. Aengus's screams reach my ears as his body falls to the floor.

"AENGUS OG! I shall now list off your crimes! One: Treason and therefore threatening the wellbeing of Chezarei. The punishment for this is death. Two: This one trumps the death penalty from your first crime. Ahem... YOU STRIPPED A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL AND LOCKED HER IN A CAGE IN A PITCH BLACK BASEMENT, YOU SICK FUCK!" I scream with the creepy voice as I kick him in the face.

"I think it only fair that because you stripped a thirteen year old girl of her clothes, you get stripped of your skin!" I exclaim and slice off all the skin and clothes from his left side, ending with the removal of his entire left arm at the shoulder.

The symphony of screams is playing tonight at the Metropolitan!

I continue flaying his sides and chest, feeling my enjoyment grow with each strip. I feel my ecstasy competing with my anger for control of the situation, and anger wins by a finger!

"PLEASE JUST MAKE IT STOP!" Aengus screams.

"How many times do you think Lila screamed that as the Daeva were spraying her naked body with a fire hose!? HOW MANY!?" I yell as I slice off the rest of his right leg. I have no idea about the naked hosing, but it sounds good when angrily screamed.

"SOMEBODY JUST END THIS HELL!" Aengus screeches.

"I'm sure that is exactly what Lila thought as she sat naked in that cage for three days! THREE FUCKING DAYS!" I shout as his left leg comes off.

"JUST KILL ME ALREADY!" Aengus yells.

"All I'm doing is giving you a taste of what you wanted to do to Chezarei and of what you did do to that young girl... You shall receive no quarter from me," I sternly reply as I cut off the rest of his right arm at the shoulder. Aengus's body starts to slowly disintegrate where I've severed his limbs, moving towards his head as he screams.

I walk over to where my finger is on the floor and I pick it up. I walk back over to the still screaming Aengus and decide that I should probably wrap this up so I can deal with my finger.

"I usually don't have such a kind attitude towards turncoats, but since I'm short on time, I'll make an exception," I say before I vertically bisect him.

"Airi, helmet."

"Dagda... I think it's about time I went home..." I quietly tell him while my helmet retracts.

"Bye, Lila," I say without looking at her, too afraid of what I'll see.

"Sorry I ruined dinner, everyone..." I address the room.

Dagda snaps his fingers, I get that falling feeling, and we are both standing by the gazebo that I first arrived at. This must be the gate Brighid was referring to earlier.

"Ready lad?" Dagda asks and I nod the affirmative.

Chapter 18: You two are obviously doing something wrong...

"I need to get back and maintain order. That was quite the show, boyo," Dagda says with a certain lackluster quality as we stand at my front door. I'd say his lack of enthusiasm is understandable for a man who just watched his son get tortured to death.

"Yeah... bye," I quietly say as Dagda ports back to Tir na nOg.

My Mu-cutter is still active as I walk through the front door. I'm going to need it for what I'm planning to do.

"COLE!...Cole?" Cheza angrily screams as she runs at me, but she stops when she looks at my hand.

I notice that she is wearing a black v-cut dress that flows into a short pleated skirt, similar to the one she wore at her graduation party. Now I feel bad...

"Give me a moment," I say as I walk past Cheza, Natasha, Tia, and Sara on my way to the kitchen. I pull out the cutting board and set my little finger on top of it. I use the Mu-cutter to slice the tiniest sliver off the cut end of my finger before setting my left hand on the board.

"MMM!" I yell with my mouth closed, gritting my teeth while slicing into my hand. I take the recently cut finger, connect it to my recently cut hand, and hold it there.

"Airi, is this going to work?"

(Yes. It seems you have expunged the wounding agent from Moralltach's cut)

I stand in the kitchen for a few moments just holding my finger to my hand as if I were waiting for super glue to dry. I disconnect the Mu-cutter and then Cheza tackles me to the ground in a flurry of tears as she pounds away on my chest.

"IDIOT! DUMBASS! STUPID MOTHERFUCKER!" Cheza screams through her tears while she beats her fists against my chest.

"Why didn't you tell me, Cole!?" Cheza demands.

"I didn't want you to see me like that again..." I quietly reply as I wrap my arms around her.

"Cole, it took the severing of your finger to keep you from losing yourself! That's something I can help with, and that's why you are not visiting any more pantheons without me..." Cheza insists while her tears soak through my shirt.

(This is one fight that you cannot win)

"Yeah, I know. Thanks Airi."

"Okay. I promise that you will be with me when I have to do that again," I whisper in her ear.

"Good. *Sniffle*... now for the next question: why are you wearing a hot pink shirt that says juicy?" Cheza asks.

"And why does it say 'Tir na nOg Spring Break 2010!' on the back?" Tia asks.

"That's a really long story..." I reply, not really wanting to discuss it.

"You're not switching teams on us, are you Cole? The Celts were known for that..." Tia suggests.

Cheza suddenly has this really unsure look on her face as she inspects me. Tia, you just had to go and wind her up didn't you? I'm tired and my hand fucking hurts so I think of the quickest way to eliminate this dilemma. I'd first like to say that, in my defense, I know I can make some really stupid decisions when I'm tired and/or in pain:

I respond to Cheza's uncertainty by sticking my tongue down her throat as I reach around the strap of her dress to take her left breast in my right hand. It's so soft and warm and it fits my hand so perfectly... I start to massage it and Cheza moans slightly into my mouth in response as I feel her nipple stiffen in my palm. I pull away to find that Cheza is a little shell-shocked so I scoop her up and carry her to my bedroom.

Tia is beaming at me like a mother who's watching her son take his first steps. I recall Tia telling me before Hawaii that there was only one more situation in which she could be prouder of me... I'd face-palm right now if I had a free hand. I walk into my room while leaving the lights off, still cradling Cheza as I kick my door shut. I set her down on the bed and see that she still looks flustered, but excited. I strip off my shorts and JUICY t-shirt, before crawling in past her to lie down on my right side, facing the wall. I hear her undoing her dress before she sees that I'm turned on my side, sleeping.

"Cole! You can't get me all worked up like this and then just leave me hanging!" Cheza exclaims.

"Fine, go ahead, but do I have to be awake for it?" I ask. I'd be lying if I said that I don't find this switch in gender roles to be highly amusing.

"Cole! I... would that even work?" Cheza curiously asks.

"Well, Airi might have some sort of blood timer feature so I can set it to automatically shut off before that four hour time limit when we need to call a doctor," I tell her whilst yawning.

"Listen, Cheza, I'm really tired and my hand hurts so if you're going to sleep rape me, then just watch my left hand," I mumble to her.

"Nah, I don't want our first time to be like that anyway," Cheza says as she moves in and places her naked chest on my back. Something stirs slightly in my boxers...

I started this little fight, and now Cheza is taking measures to end it. She reaches around me and grabs my crotch as the stirring increases slightly. The stirring suddenly increases much faster and I realize that Cheza is manipulating my blood! I retaliate by flushing all of the blood from that region. She responds by bringing it back.

"Stop that! I'm trying to sleep!" I tell her as I blanch the region again.

"Stop what?" Cheza innocently replies while giggling and bringing the blood back.

I start laughing when I realize exactly what it is that we are doing: playing tug-of-war with the blood in my penis. I turn over on my left side to face her, throw in the tug-of-war towel, and move my mouth to hers as I start fondling her. We've been lying there dry-humping each other and making out for a few minutes, when I feel the bed start to get a little wet and my hand along with it... I'm going to avoid saying what that is.

Then I realize that the same hand that is wet is hurting, like really fucking badly.

"FUCK ME! My finger popped off again!" I announce.

"SHIT COLE! DON'T SURPRISE ME LIKE THAT! HURRY UP AND FIND IT!" Cheza exclaims.

"I CAN'T FIND IT CHEZA, THAT'S THE PROBLEM! WHERE IS ALL THIS WET STUFF COMING FROM!?" I shout.

"WELL IT'S GOT TO BE DOWN THERE SOMEWHERE!" Cheza yells.

"Okay I'm coming in to fucking coach you guys because you are obviously doing something wron—HOLY SHIT! IT LOOKS LIKE A BLOOD ORGY IN HERE!" Tia exclaims as she barges into my room and turns on the lights after slightly misinterpreting the situation.

Here's a fun fact: When people hear the phrase 'blood orgy' apparently they come running because now Sara and Natasha are in my room too. Now that the lights are on and I have a good view of this scene, the phrase blood orgy doesn't seem entirely inaccurate because Cheza and I are both covered in it.

"AIRI, WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" I scream aloud.

(Sorry... I was preoccupied trying to find the record button on the DVR remote... and we are currently out of D batteries...)

At this point, Cheza and I start laughing our asses off while the other three look at us like we are mentally disturbed.

"Don't worry, Airi just made a joke. Cheza, I need you to get out of bed and go to your room so I can find my finger and get it reattached. Don't look at me like that. I'll be in there in a few minutes!" I say.

Cheza leaves my bed and retreats to her room while flashing me an amazing view of her black-silk clad ass. I find my finger down by my foot and I take it to my sink where I rinse it and my hand off before sticking the finger back on. I go back into my room and see Sara stripping my sheets and mattress pad so that more blood doesn't seep into the mattress.

"Thank you, Sara," I say as I hear Cheza's shower turn on while I rummage through my dresser for a pair of boxers.

"Yep. Cole, come to my room after you take a shower," Sara says as I walk into my bathroom.

"OKAY!" I shout while turning the shower on.

A hot shower feels really nice after one hell of a long day. I step out of the shower and get dressed after carefully toweling off, and then it's off to Sara's room. I knock and walk in.

"Sit," Sara says as she heads to her closet and comes out with a medical kit. She takes out some tape and wraps it around my finger.

"There. Now you don't have to worry about it falling off. Cole, when did you make that bracelet?" Sara inquires.

"Oh, I made this earlier today. I needed a way to make the Mu-cutter without having the handle being obviously in my hand so I made a bangle instead," I tell her.

"That pattern is really interesting. Where did you come up with that?" Sara asks.

"I actually had Airi make the bracelet. I left it up to her artistic discretion because I have no experience with bracelets," I inform her.

"Eh...? Anyway, you go and get some sleep, Cole. I have a surprise for you tomorrow!" Sara says with a smile.

"Okay. Goodnight, Sara," I respond and run to Cheza's room.

"Hey, I was beginning to think you weren't coming..." Cheza quietly says while hugging a pillow to her chest.

"Of course I came, Cheza!" I reply.

(Phrasing)

Although I can understand why she wouldn't exactly trust my words at the moment.

"Now, let's go to bed. This day has been way too long," I say.

"Alright, Cole. We will postpone our activities for another night," Cheza states with a sly smile.

I slide into her bed, wrap my arms around her, and we both fall asleep.

...

[May 27th]

Waking up to Cheza's sleeping face is a pretty great way to start a morning. I untangle myself from her sleeping form, head to my room to get my basic training clothes on, and walk out to the kitchen to find that Sara is already there making eggs and bacon. When I finish eating, I stand up and turn to walk to the basement when Sara stops me.

"Cole, come to my room for a moment," Sara says as she stands up and walks to her room while I follow. I sit on her bed as Sara goes to her closet, which I can only assume is some sort of portal to another world because she seems to keep everything in there. She comes out with what I assume is my new holster.

"I was able to make the modifications you wanted," Sara says as I inspect the new holster.

This one is also worn like a backpack, but there is an X on the back that connects to the looped straps in the front so that it sort of looks like an infinity sign. The bottom legs of the X have metal buckles that clip into the pack on my lower back.

"I had to make the pouch a lot longer to fit the length of two 25-round magazines, which is why I had to change the gun holster's placement. I also made the hole at the end wide enough for the silencer to pass through it," Sara says.

I look and see that the gun holster is now positioned so that the grip of the gun faces up instead of to the left. "I had a little trouble with the placement for the short Sic blade. I knew that you needed the handle to stick out to the right, but the magazines would get in the way. That's why I made it so the handle faces diagonally up and to the right."

"This is great Sara, but what about the pouch for the silencer when it isn't in use?" I inquire.

"That's another problem I had. I could put it on this left end, but that would be a poor placement choice when you have to use your right hand to attach it..." Sara said.

"Wait a second... if I'm only using the 25 round magazines, which are about four inches longer, couldn't I reload my gun just by sliding it over the magazine until it locks if the magazines were on my left side?" I ask, but Sara just gives me a puzzled look.

"Just a second," I say before I race to my room, grab my gun, and head back into Sara's room.

I unclip the new pouch from the straps and stick it to my back upside-down, so that the mags are sticking out to the left. After letting the magazine that is currently in my gun drop to the floor, I move the gun around to my back and try to slide the protruding mag into my gun, only to find that the knife attachment gets in the way.

"One more second, I need to use your bathroom," I say as I walk over to her desk/workbench.

After grabbing a pair of scissors, I slice open my right wrist just below the bangle. I walk into the bathroom and hold my right hand flat and parallel to her sink as I form a Mu-cutter. After I pour one and a half liters of blood down Sara's sink, I use the Mu-cutter to slice off the knife at the bottom of my gun—I rarely use it anyway.

"That Mu-cutter is so cool!" Sara exclaims as I disengage it.

I try and reload my gun again and this time it works.

"That's what I'm talking about! Can you flip the whole pouch?" I ask.

"Ugh... yeah, I just have to scrap most of my work..." Sara says, slightly downtrodden.

"I'm sorry, Sara, but this way the pack will be more effective. You can make it so the Sic blade's hilt sticks out horizontally to the right and then put a silencer pouch on the right as well! Keep the gun's holster how it is though. I like the feel of that more than the previous design," I say with excitement.

"Alright, I can probably salvage the magazine pouches just by adjusting the front and since I don't have to make those from scratch, I can probably have it done in two days," Sara says.

"Thanks, Sara. You're the greatest!" I reply while hugging her.

"Oh stop it... Cole? Can we talk about what happened the other night?" Sara quietly questions. Does she know about how I almost killed her?

"Tia, could you please come in here?" Sara asks at a normal volume and Tia walks in.

"Spill it, little bro. What's with the helmet and the new swords? I'm not all that surprised by the 'still being alive despite getting shanked in the heart' thing—your regeneration skills have always been impressive—but the helmet interests me," Tia inquires and I let out a breath of relief.

"Well, as I was blacking out, these voices said that I wasn't allowed to die yet and that they were going to help me just this once. It was like I was back in my Drive state again, just watching and feeling as I reached around to the back of my neck and scratched it from my crumpled position on the floor. Then this silver liquid enveloped my head and suddenly I could see clearly in the pitch black room. I rose to my feet while the creepy voices started laughing, despite my two punctured lungs, as I cupped two handfuls of blood from my chest and clapped them together. As I pulled my hands apart, two scimitars that I identified as Talwars based on the hilt formed in each hand. I thought about how I didn't like single-edged blades and the swords suddenly morphed into those clear, double-edged blades that are in my room," I explain. Tia and Sara both look really concerned.

"Cole, go grab the blades from your room and then go downstairs and try to cut through your old Sic blade," Tia says.

I walk to my room, grab the diamond swords, and head for the basement.

"Sara, tell me the truth. Do you know what's going on?" I hear Tia sternly ask as I reach the base of the stairs.

"No... but I plan to find out. Go keep an eye on Cole," Sara answers.

This doesn't sound too good...

Chapter 19: I don't care if you want to play Christopher Walken! I said no rain scenes!

"Hey Tia, I can't get a good swing in on the Sic blade. Could you hold it?" I ask Tia as she walks down the stairs after I tried to cut my first three foot Sic blade with one of my Diamond swords.

Tia walks over, I hand her my Sic blade, and she holds it steady while I swing my Diamond sword as hard as I can. The Diamond sword chips the Sic blade, but just barely.

While they may resemble diamonds, if the swords were made of diamond then they would break because diamonds are hard, but rather brittle. Even silicon carbide is relatively brittle because of how hard it is so how has it been standing up to steel this whole time? The only logical explanation that I can come up with is that it utilizes a carbon nanotube structure for its strength.

I think something like this would be perfect for Cheza but I'm not sure if I can make pure silicon carbide that large. I've probably become more capable at making pure silicon carbide since I made Cheza's ring, but to make the short swords I have in mind, I'll need far more blood than I have.

(To make the twin blades that connect together and slide into one sheath, making them look like a single sword, you will need 20.4 liters)

"Wow, that's way out of my league. There has to be some way to do this... Hey Airi, is it possible for me to do something like drain my blood into a container to use at a later time?"

(I am proud of you, Master. Yes, you can save your blood in containers. My recommendation is to drain 3 Liters of your blood each night. Your blood supply will be restored each night while you sleep and you will have enough blood in a week's time)

"Thanks Genie! If only you could grant wishes so that I could just fast forward that week."

(I could put your body on autopilot so that you will respond normally for a week's time. Your consciousness will not feel the passage of time)

"Uh, no thanks. I know how this ends: with me dying in a hospital gown while lying in the street when it's raining. I am not Adam Sandler!"

_(Damn... I really wanted to play the part of Christopher Walken...)_

I laugh out loud at the thought of Airi impersonating Christopher Walken while Tia looks at me. "Airi again. Hey, do you think blades made of pure silicon carbide would work for Cheza's icy abilities?"

"Most likely, but how are you going to make it when you drained yourself making a small ring?" Tia asks.

"I'll just show you in a week, but first I need a container that can hold 20.4 liters of liquid," I say.

"Well gallon jugs hold about four liters and the sports drink cooler holds ten gallons so that should do it," Tia says.

"Perfect! I need to bring it to my room when Cheza isn't paying attention... I'll do it while you two are training. Where is it by the way?" I ask.

"In the garage," Tia answers.

"Alright, thanks Tia!" I reply and head upstairs, passing Cheza as I open the basement door.

"Good morning! You'd better hurry up. Tia is waiting," I tell her.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going!" Cheza grumpily replies. I wonder what's wrong...

I head out the front door and into the garage. I expand my hearing to make sure that Cheza is in the basement. She is, but I also hear that Sara is on the phone so I listen in.

"What the hell do they think they're doing!? It isn't time yet and they keep slipping him hints! The only thing that has kept him from realizing exactly what is going on is the fact that I taught him that stuff a decade ago so he probably doesn't remember it all that well!" Sara angrily exclaims.

Okay so it's clear that she is talking about me, but who are they? What hints have I been slipped? And what did she teach me that I've forgotten?

"Fine! Bye!" Sara shouts and hangs up.

I take the cooler to my room and put the cooler in my shower so that Cheza won't see it, even if she goes in my bathroom. I head for the basement since my performance yesterday showed me that my accuracy with the needles and spikes still needs a lot of work. As I reach the basement door, the doorbell rings.

I walk over and answer the front door, only to be immediately tackled to the ground by my neck.

"COLE!" Lila squeals in my ear.

"Well, well, if it isn't my favorite girl with wings!" I exclaim as I sit up. Lila is wearing a white sundress similar to the one from last night. "How are you?"

"I'm good! I came with daddy to watch your training!" Lila cheerfully exclaims as I notice Dagda standing in the doorway.

"Training?" I ask, directing it at either of them.

"Well, after that close call last night, I told Mama Quilla at the meetin' that I'm goin' to train you to fight at a higher level. Bein' the head o' a high tier pantheon, I can get you prepared to fight most gods in any other pantheon," Dagda informs me.

"That would actually be really helpful, thanks! It would be nice if I could avoid losing any more appendages!" I reply while holding up my still bandaged finger.

"I see you got it reattached! How'd you manage that?" Dagda asks.

"I sliced a small sliver of tissue from the finger and from my hand and then reconnected them. I had this idea that the magic that makes the wounds that Moralltach causes unable to be healed might work like a poison coating on a blade, and sure enough, it worked! I'm just a little lucky that it sliced clean through my finger. Had it been a stab wound, I don't think I would have been able to heal it," I reply.

"Alright, well let's go downstairs, grab some weapons, and head for the backyard so we don't disturb Cheza's training," I say as I walk to the basement door.

I grab my new Diamond swords as well as my diamond-pommeled Sic blade while Dagda grabs a long sword from the armory. I explain what's happening to Tia and Cheza, even though Tia probably already knows. Dagda and I head upstairs, I put on some shoes, and out the front door we go.

"Alright lad, how does that weapon from last night work?" Dagda asks.

"Well, it basically slices through the bonds of the atoms in a molecule. It has several major weaknesses though: first, it takes time for me to form, roughly 15-30 seconds, so it is something that requires preparation. Second: when I'm forming it, giant globs of blood drop from my hand which immediately gives it away to anyone relatively intelligent. That is the main reason for my taunting last night, to make Aengus angry so he wouldn't notice the blood under the table. Lastly, it uses up nearly two liters of blood to make, so I can really only make one every two hours or so," I explain.

"I see now... so we have to work on your speed most importantly. It sounds like buying you enough time to make this weapon in battle will be crucial. Let's get started with a bit o' sparrin'. This way we can work on your swordplay too, but I'm also goin' to be hittin' harder as well," Dagda forewarns.

I grab one of my Diamond swords while Lila flutters up onto the roof and lets her legs dangle over the edge. Dagda starts and I'm able to block his first blow before he slices into my left arm. We keep going until I feel Cheza get cut in response to my hit, causing me to take another blow from Dagda.

"Okay, this isn't going to work. I'm too close to Cheza. Did Kira say anything about my attachment to Cheza?" I ask.

"She did. When a member o' The Faction brought up how you might hurt Chezarei, Mama Quilla explained that you have some kind of connection with the lass and that hurtin' her would be like hurtin' yourself, but what does that have to do with anythin'?" Dagda inquires.

"Cheza and I can talk to each other through some kind of connection in our minds. It is affected by distance, but I was able to talk to her while I was in Tir na nOg. This same connection also lets us know when the other is in pain. Cheza felt that first hit I took and ended up taking one herself because of the distraction, causing me to take that second hit from the feeling of her pain," I explain.

"Aye, I can see how that's not goin' to work... it's affected by distance you say? Lila, come here," Dagda says, Lila flies down, and he ports us to some island with white sandy beaches. "How's this for distance?"

"This should work! Small nicks and cuts shouldn't get transferred over this much distance. I'm pretty sure that the only reason Cheza could feel I was hurt the night I rescued Lila is because the three swords in my chest stopped my heart," I answer.

"Let's get started then!" Dagda replies.

He then proceeds to beat the crap out of me for the next three hours or so.

"Okay... I need... a short... break," I gasp through strained breathing as the sun starts to set.

"Aye, we can't have you dyin' on me on the first day!" Dagda exclaims.

Lila runs over to me with a banana and a coconut. I wonder if she used her control over nature to make the trees drop them, or did she just fly up and pick them?

"Thanks... Lila," I say, out of breath while trying to smile as I plop down in the sand.

I drill a hole in the side of the coconut with my sword, form a straw using one of my unhealed cuts, and take a drink. I find this to be rather lacking in pineapple juice and rum... especially rum.

(But why is the rum gone!?)

"Keep up the good work Minion!" Lila says while hugging me from behind.

"But of course! I can't let you down, princess!" I exclaim.

Lila peeks her head around my shoulder as I turn my head to look at her.

"Cole... I don't like it when you call me princess..." Lila says while pouting. Damn this little girl is too cute. I'm going to have to be careful.

(I said no touching)

"Not like that! I mean she's cute in the 'oh look it's a basket full of kittens playing with each other' sense. Just because I think the kittens are cute, doesn't mean that I want my penis anywhere near them. I'm going to have to be careful or she is going to realize that she can manipulate me."

Is this what a normal little sister/older brother relationship feels like? I want to protect her, but I don't feel almost possessive of her like I did with Cheza...

"Haha alright Lila, no more calling you princess," I say and she smiles at me in response.

"Say Cole, are you used to fightin' usin' a companion weapon? Your form seems inadequate for a single weapon," Dagda asks

"Yeah, usually I have a custom made pistol that I use for blocking and disarming," I inform him.

"I'd like to see that! Plus it'd be good for you to see the effective range of your gun against a faster opponent. Let's port back to your house for a minute," Dagda says while picking up my other swords.

Dagda walks over, puts a hand on my shoulder, and we are back at the house with Lila still hanging onto my neck. I stand and Lila wraps her legs around me so that I'm giving her a piggy back ride.

"Hey guys, just dropping by to grab my gun and some rubber rounds!" I say over Lila's giggling from my full speed run down the stairs. "How goes the training, Cheza?"

"We had to stop using blades because Cheza keeps breaking them when she gets into it," Tia says while pointing at a pile of broken swords.

"Well I know Cheza doesn't have much experience, but here," I say as I toss Tia one of my Diamond swords. "Have her try using this and see what happens to the sword. It's information that I need to know so consider it an experiment," Tia looks at the sword and nods.

"Actually, take this one too. It might not cut her, but I'm pretty sure it won't break either," I add while tossing her the other Diamond sword.

"Then what will you use with Dagda?" Tia asks. I hold up my diamond Sic blade in response.

"Alright, well we will be goin' to Tir na nOg now. At least I can control how much light we have there," Dagda says.

"See you two later!" I exclaim and Dagda puts a hand on my shoulder.

After my initial feeling of falling, I see that we are standing at the gate before everything shifts into a grassy field.

"Will I ever get used to that feeling of falling?" I ask.

"Well, it's a bit different when you port yourself," Dagda explains.

"Oh, speaking of which, how did that soldier port us here the other day?" I inquire.

"My squad leaders get this special brand that allows them to port to Tir na nOg. The squad members get a similar brand to port when the leader does," Dagda explains.

"So the brand allows them to port anywhere?" I ask.

"No, just to where their mission is and back here. The brand is regulated by my staff to adjust the locations before a mission. Alright boyo, enough chat. Let's see what you've got!" Dagda exclaims as Lila jumps off my back and sits down about fifty feet away.

I load a 25 round rubber bullet magazine into my gun and nod to him to start. He takes off at what I think is his full speed because all I can see is blur as he circles around me. My helmet suddenly engages and I can see him much more clearly, but he is still moving insanely fast. I fire five rounds at a distance of twenty feet and he dodges all of them. I try again at fifteen and ten feet to the same effect. I'm finally able to hit him twice before he puts his hand in front of the barrel of my gun and angles his hand so that the following three rubber bullets bounce off of his palm, then off his angle fingers, finally hitting me square between the eyes. I'm glad I'm wearing the helmet.

"HA HA HA!" Dagda laughs as I hear a few giggles from Lila.

"Wow, it seems like guns are almost completely ineffective at that speed..." I comment with the creepy overlapping voice.

"That they are, lad. Upper tier gods can move faster than the bullets up until we have no time to react. It's a good thing that you've been usin' it as a close range weapon," Dagda explains.

The rubber bullets are traveling at approximately 1400 ft/s and he could dodge the bullets at 10 feet away meaning he was able to dodge in .007th of a second... this is insane! What in the hell did I get myself into?

"Dagda, I need you to shoot at me with that gun at different distances until I get hit. I'm wondering how fast I can go in comparison to you. I also think that my perceptions enhance when I'm wearing the helmet so we are going to do it once with the helmet on, and once with it off," I say as I disengage the helmet.

"Alright, lad. I suggest starting at about fifty feet away now," Dagda says. I nod and walk out.

Dagda fires a round at me and I manage to dodge it, but not too easily. I move up ten feet, Dagda fires another round and I feel the air current brush past my skin as I dodge it by about an inch. I move up five feet, Dagda fires, and I get hit. So with my helmet off I'm able to dodge a 1400 ft/s bullet at forty feet, meaning I can react in approximately .028 of a second which is about ten times faster than the average human.

We try the experiment again with my helmet on. I get up to thirty feet, meaning I'm still only reacting and moving at about a third of the speed of Dagda. I consider asking him to sprint a hundred yards to observe how fast he is in comparison to me, but when I think about it, reaction time is what matters in a fight, not top speed.

"Alright, we need to improve my reaction time somehow... Dagda, could you get ten of your best archers here and arm them with headless arrows? I want them to shoot at me from staggered distances and heights as I deflect the arrows with my sword," I explain my plan.

"That I can, lad. That isn't too bad an idea! It will speed up your raw reaction times as well as your sword reactions. We will still need to spar to get you up to speed, but this is a good way to start out! I'll be right back," Dagda says as he snaps his fingers.

"That was pretty cool, Cole! Hey... can I shoot your gun?" Lila timidly asks.

"Sure, come here," I say with a smile as Lila jumps to her feet and runs over with her wings fluttering behind her.

(The recoil from your gun makes it impossible for a normal being to shoot)

Crap! I completely forgot about that... I know, I'll just hold onto my gun with her to make sure it behaves!

"Alright, hold the gun like this, but keep your finger off of the trigger. Now straighten this arm like this while leaving the other one looser," I say as I kneel behind her and wrap my arms around her shoulders while I place my hands over hers on the gun. Lila noticeably tenses up when my chest touches her wings; they must be rather sensitive.

"Okay now squeeze the trigger," I tell her.

My gun fires and remains well behaved. I'm still not entirely sure how my gun does that, but I think it acts like my plates and absorbs the blowback by turning into a semi-liquid state to eliminate recoil.

"Good job, Lila... Lila? Are you alright? Your face is all flushed," I ask, concerned that I may have hurt her.

"What!? Yeah, I'm fine!" Lila exclaims as she avoids looking at me.

Dagda comes back with ten archers equipped with headless arrows. Dagda snaps his fingers and we appear in a forest. Seven archers fly to different elevations in the trees and three stay on the ground.

"Are you ready, boyo?" Dagda asks and I nod in response.

I spend the next few hours getting shot at. At first I was getting hit with about one out of every three arrows, but then I got into the repetition of it and lowered my hit ratio to one out of every six. Every time an archer would run out of arrows, Dagda would snap his fingers and the broken ones at my feet would disappear while new arrows would appear in the quivers.

"Alright, I think that's enough for today. Come lad, it's about time I got you home," Dagda says a few hours later.

"Okay..." I say while slightly out of breath as Lila runs up and jumps onto my back.

Dagda snaps his fingers and we shift to the gate. Dagda sets his hand on my shoulder, we appear at my doorstep, and Lila dismounts from my back.

"See you tomorrow, Cole!" Lila exclaims as she waves goodbye and they disappear.

Chapter 20: No, 'basket full of kittens' cute

I walk in the door and shout, "Hello Honey, I'm home!"

"Hey Cole, dinner will be ready in about five minutes. Cheza is using the large bathtub in the master bathroom, something about calming her nerves," Sara says.

"Alright, I'm going to go take a shower and change," I tell her before running off to my room.

I strip down and jump in the shower when I remember the cooler. If I drain a liter now, it should be restored by the time I'm finished with dinner and I'll be able to get four liters done tonight. I walk out of the shower, slice my left wrist open using the grooming scissors that I keep in my bathroom, and I drain a liter. Once I put the lid on the cooler, I take a shower. In the middle of it, I hear Cheza's phone ring from the master bedroom.

"Hello?" Cheza answers.

"Hey Rei, how are you?" I recognize the voice as the friend that called Cheza before.

"Katie!? I wasn't sure we were still friends after what happened..." Cheza says.

"What? It's not like you chose to have vampires attack your party and bite me!" Katie replies.

"Are you okay?" Cheza asks.

"Yeah, I spent a couple days in the hospital because of blood loss and they ran a few tests, but I'm fine now. If your brother hadn't killed that vampire when he did, I'd probably be dead. The way he moved was amazing! Is he a vampire too? Or a werewolf?" Katie asks.

"No, he's human... ish," Cheza tries to explain.

"Well, vampires and werewolves can be considered human-ish too," Katie points out.

"I guess it's more accurate to say that he has a rare genetic defect," Cheza explains.

"So he's like a superhero?" Katie asks for clarification.

"He is to me..." Cheza quietly replies.

"Yeah, how are things on that front, Rei?" Katie asks.

"Well, we were in Hawaii last week and we fooled around a bit and we were fooling around in his bed last night until his recently severed finger came off again and got us both covered in blood, which totally ruined the mood. I think he's stopped seeing me as his little sister so that's good, but now there's this other girl around and she's really pretty and her boobs are bigger than mine so I'm feeling a little uncertain... plus I caught Cole feeling her breasts... twice..." Cheza explains.

"Ooh, Rei! You might need to do something drastic if things get any worse!" Katie exclaims.

"Yeah, maybe..." Cheza quietly replies.

"Well I need to get going, but we need to hangout soon! Call or text me if you need advice or anything! Bye Rei!" Katie says.

"Bye Katie! I'll talk to you soon!" Cheza exclaims and hangs up.

I dress in a new pair of shorts and a white t-shirt before I exit my room. As I turn towards the kitchen, I'm ambushed from behind with skinny white arms being wrapped around my neck.

"Welcome home, Dear. I'm going to get dressed and then I'll be out for dinner," Cheza whispers into my ear and gives me a peck on the cheek before she scampers off to her room, providing me with a nice view of her naked backside. I've never really noticed this before, but Cheza has really nice legs for being such a short girl.

I walk out into the kitchen and see Natasha sitting at the table, rubbing her temples.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" I inquire.

"Hungry, tired, headache," Natasha says.

"Is it your concussion?" I ask, concerned.

"No, it's the shit storm your little 'blood-covered guy with a sword in each hand and a girl over each shoulder, walking around with three swords through his chest' move has caused," Natasha says while slightly glaring at me.

"Sorry..." I quietly reply.

"*Sigh*... I'm not mad at you, Cole. I know that you really had no other choice while hauling me and the fairy princess... how is she by the way?" Natasha asks.

"I don't know what she was like before this whole mess, but I imagine that she was an energetic, mischievous, happy little girl. She seems to be back to that girl, but I think she is just acting. There's something there that is still broken and it comes through in a timid sort of form..." I say.

"Do you think the Daeva... _did_ anything to her?" Natasha asks.

"I don't know. I haven't asked and I don't plan to press her into telling me... but I do know that I want to protect her. Earlier today, I actually found myself wondering if that was what a normal brother-sister relationship would feel like: I want to protect her, but I'm not possessive of her like I was with Cheza," I tell her.

"Hmm... Well do you feel like she is your sister?" Natasha questions.

"Not really. She is too young for me to consider categorizing her in my 'friends' category so I considered making a 'tiny associates' category, but I didn't really like the feel of that so I put her in the 'cute little girls with wings' category, but the title was too long to put on the file so I put her in the recently vacant 'little sister' category," I explain.

"What!?" Natasha exclaims looking concerned.

"Oh, 'basketful of kittens' cute," I correct.

"Oh okay... whew, I thought we were going to have to stage an intervention!" Natasha exclaims as Cheza and Tia come out to the kitchen and Sara serves dinner.

"So how did the experiment go?" I ask in between bites.

"It went well. We were able to spar until Cheza froze my sword enough for the ice to reach my hand, but the swords definitely stood up to the temperature. Not so much as a crack on them," Tia answers.

"Alright, well that's interesting," I reply.

Good, this means that pure silicon carbide should work for Cheza's blades... I actually might be able to finish them tonight. If I drain half of a liter into the cooler every five minutes, my blood supply won't go down as long as I stay hydrated and I should have enough for the blades in roughly three and a half hours. I finish dinner, grab five 32 oz. Gatorade bottles, and head to my room. I grab my laptop, pull the cooler out of the shower, and sit on the lid of my toilet as I slice my arm open and hold it over the cooler.

"Airi, please deposit .5 liters of blood into the cooler every five minutes as needed until there is 20.5 liters in the cooler."

(As you wish it, so it shall be, Master)

I start researching different components of blood and possible ways I can use it to make explosives. With my Drive no longer around, the exploding vampire head is one mystery I'll have to solve alone. About an hour and five bottles of Gatorade later, I hear someone enter my room.

"Hey Cole? Are you alright?" Cheza asks through the bathroom door.

"Huh? Yeah I'm fine Cheza, I'm just reading," I say.

"Wha—? Why are you reading in the bathroom?" Cheza asks incredulously.

"Don't question why men do the things that they do, Cheza. Do I question why you do some of the things you do? No, I don't... at least not vocally. I will exit the bathroom when I exit the bathroom," I say as if I were stating some sort of declaration for all man-kind.

"I... fine," she replies and leaves.

Hopefully it will buy me at least three more hours. In the following two and a half hours, I find interesting information about extremely unstable chemical compounds that I may be able to make. I also refill the Gatorade bottles with water from the sink three times when Airi reminds me that I'm getting dehydrated.

(20.4 liters is presently in the cooler. This is the amount necessary for Cheza's blades)

"Thank you, Airi. How long will it take to form the blades and sheath?"

(ETA: 2 hours 15 minutes. Reminder: if you lose sight of the object you are trying to create, the structure will collapse. Meditation is recommended)

"Damn, that is a really long time... meditating while creating this sounds like a good idea. Thanks, Airi."

I drag the cooler over to my bed, sit crisscross on top of it, and stick my right hand into my blood. I picture Cheza's weapon in my mind. After taking several deep breaths, I start the construction.

In the back of my mind, I hear my door open before it quietly closes—probably Tia.

I picture the Kukri-like blade that curves inward. I picture a split in the center that follows the curve of the blade, stopping halfway down its length to act like the disarm-bar on my gun, and I sharpen the inside of the split. I imagine the back half of the blade being three inches longer than the front so it is more effective at blocking and disarming. I sharpen the back edge of the blade too because I know it will never hurt her.

I'm about to start the handle when I hear Cheza's voice from a far off place.

"COLE! WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOI—" Cheza says as her voice trails off.

I think I heard someone run up before Cheza stopped talking. Tia probably shushed her... or used a chloroform rag on Cheza and she is currently unconscious on my floor. Both are equally possible.

I picture the cross guard being the five-pointed flower-esque cross guard that the Diamond swords had. I see the hilt that fits her small hands perfectly. I imagine a pentagonal diamond with the point facing outward for the pommel. With the blade finally complete, I split the whole thing in half so that the left half is a mirror image of the right half and when separated, the hilt is a semicircle for each half.

"COLE WHAT IS ALL THIS!? WHY IS CHEZA ON THE FLO—" I hear Sara say, sounding like she is shouting from across a football field. I'm thinking the Tia/chloroform scenario is much more likely now and Sara has joined Cheza on my floor.

I picture the scabbard that is curved to fit the blade.

I hear the door open again and I wait for the screaming followed by the chloroforming, but it doesn't come. I imagine some sort of conversation consisting of pantomiming and mouthing of words followed by silent laughter is going on between Tia and Natasha at the moment.

As a final touch, I etch a message into the inside of the left and right halves of the hilt:

To Cheza, the Diamond in my Heart

May these protect you if I am unable

I open my eyes and see the sheathed blades standing straight up in the center of the cooler while a whirlpool of blood circulates around them. Strangely enough, the clear blades and sheath are completely devoid of blood. When I pull them out, the blood fills in the hole and stops spinning. Okay, that was pretty cool.

I take stock of my surroundings and find: Sara and Cheza asleep on my floor, a white rag that looks slightly wet, and a silent game of strip poker between Natasha and Tia... you know, just to make things weird. They are both down to just their bras and panties and it appears that Natasha just lost that hand because she starts to reach behind her to unhook her bra.

"That's far enough, Natasha," I say as she jumps a little.

"Are you sure, Cole?" Natasha asks while thrusting out her chest, cocking her head slightly to the side, and batting her eyes at me. As such, it takes me a few moments of consideration, in which I've already failed the test so I go with the backup excuse.

"Yes I'm sure! I wasn't actually thinking that over. I was just having a mild stroke and my mouth was refusing to work," I reply.

(That's the best you could come up with?)

"Please don't say anything to Cheza..." I quietly beg.

"I won't on one condition," Natasha says.

"Name it," I reply.

"Have sex with me on your bed while Cheza sleeps right there," Natasha demands with a surreptitious smile.

Okay, I have a few things to consider. One: if Natasha tells Cheza there is a 100 percent chance that she is going to be at least slightly angry. Two: if Cheza wakes up while I'm having sex with Natasha, then she is going to be far from angry... the phrase suicidal double homicide fits. Three: chloroform only lasts for about three hours. So, it really boils down to two questions: How long has Cheza been out and how fast can I have sex?

"How long has Cheza been unconscious?" I ask.

"About two hours," Tia responds as Natasha's smile widens.

Okay two hours is most likely within the standard deviation of chloroform's duration and I can most likely finish with Natasha in less than 15 minutes if I really focus and worst case scenario I can fake an orgasm thanks to my control over my blood. Wait a second, I am missing the most important thing!

"Does your condition include foreplay?" I inquire and Natasha's smile widens even more.

"Not this time," Natasha replies as Tia starts smiling too.

Okay so no foreplay means that I can definitely get it done in less than 15 minutes, but Cheza has already been unconscious for two hours and—Oh, shit...

(You know you done fucked up, right?)

"You aren't even using that quote in the right context!"

_(I know, but you know it, don't you? You know you done fucked up)_

See, here's the thing about being an insensibly logical person: you will spend three minutes trying to figure out the probabilities of two things versus the varying degrees of severity in consequences and you will ask stupid questions that dig you deeper and deeper into a trap while trying to figure out the answer that has been obvious the entire time to a sensible person.

I look over and see Tia holding her cellphone, recording my failure as Tia and Natasha reach the breaking point and just start dying—the rolling around, pounding on the floor with laughter kind. However, all this pounding and rolling around also causes Natasha's partially unhooked bra to slip all of the way off.

This time, I do the sensible thing: I look for the second that it takes for me to save that file in the hard drive of my mind, and then I look away.

(You know you done fucked up again, right?)

"Wait, what did I do this time? I LOOKED AWAY!"

(Hard drive of your mind. Unintentional sharing of images)

"FUCK ME SIDEWAYS!"

Please, oh pleeeeeeeeease let Cheza's subconscious process that image into some sort of lesbian sex dream of her and Natasha or a dream threesome of her, Natasha, and I!

(Impossible)

"WHY!?"

(Because the conscious mind received it first)

"..."

I look at the scene around me and notice that this can be easily misconstrued as me kicking ass at strip poker while Cheza and Sara lie unconscious a few feet away.

"Cole... you have ten seconds to explain why an image of Boobzilla's naked breasts just popped into my head, and why she is topless right now, before I go to the kitchen, grab a knife, come back here, and stab you with it," Cheza says in a furious monotone as she sits down on the bed next to me.

"Cheza, this isn't what it looks like," I calmly reply.

(Why do you never learn? How many of the last three times has that line worked?)

"Okay," Cheza says with a shrug. Seriously?

WOOHOO! 25% SUCCESS RATE!

Then Cheza snatches the blades from my hand, whips them out of the sheath, and tackles me onto my back. She straddles me as she raises the blades above her head while wearing a blank expression... why are women always doing this to me?

"WAIT WAIT WAIT! SEPARATE THE BLADES AND READ THE HANDLES! ONLY YOU CAN!" I shout as the Synergistic Blade (just trying the name out) starts to plunge down toward my chest.

Cheza stops, looks at the blades, and pulls them apart with ease. She reads the inscription on the handles and looks at me. Two tears roll down Cheza's cheeks, she drops the Synergistic blades and tries to smother me to death... At least this way smells better and it doesn't hurt as much.

"Idiot. I'm not trying to kill you... I'm touched," Cheza says after reading my mind through the connection, which I don't remember having opened. Well, at least she likes the inscription... I was a little afraid that it was too cheesy.

"No, it's not. I love it. Thank you, Cole," Cheza replies and kisses me.

"This is some nice work, Cole!" Tia exclaims as she inspects one of the Synergistic blades that had rolled to the floor. "Where did you get the idea for the design?"

"A combination of media and application of combat experiences," I reply.

"What about the cross guard?" Tia asks.

"I modeled that after the cross guards on the Diamond swords," I say as Cheza gets off of me.

"But the cross guards on the Diamond swords look like diamonds," Tia points out.

"Well yeah, they do now, but when I was fighting the Daeva, the cross guard and pommel both looked like that kind of flowery looking pattern I put on the Synergistic blades. What do you think of the name by the way?" I ask.

"The name fits. Why didn't you tell Sara and me about this earlier today?" Tia inquires.

"I guess it just slipped my mind," I reply.

"I see. So what happened to the week?" Tia asks.

"Well, my original plan was to drain myself of three liters each night before I went to bed, but I realized that I could just drain myself of half a liter every five minutes and I'd have enough blood in three hours instead of a week," I answer.

"Alright, well we should all get to bed! I'll just carry Sara to her room. Oh and if she asks, say that there was no chloroform and she never went into Cole's room," Tia says while picking up Sara and exiting my room. Natasha follows suit, but Cheza just stands, shuts the door behind them, and takes her pants off.

"Come on. Let's go to bed," Cheza says while she takes my shirt off.

I slide my shorts off as she unhooks her bra from underneath her t-shirt, slides the straps off her shoulders, and pulls the whole thing out through her sleeve before crawling into my bed.

"Thanks, Cole. I love my present," Cheza says before kissing me.

"You're welcome," I say as I kiss her back and we drift off to sleep.

...

Chapter 21: I Love the Way You Say Good... morning?

[May 28th]

I wake up to Cheza's face once again. This time I decide to wake her up as well so I kiss her deeply, despite the morning breath. Cheza wakes up mid-kiss and returns it in kind.

"Well, that is not a bad way to wake up!" Cheza says with a surreptitious smile.

"Good morning to you too!" I say in response.

I get out of bed, grab some clothes, and head into my shower. I turn the water on, squirt some body wash into my hand, and start scrubbing up, only to hear the door to my walk-in shower open as Cheza steps in.

"I can help you with your back," she declare as she stands on her tiptoes to kiss me, but she can't quite reach so I meet her half way.

"Reeeeeally? No other reason that you're here? My arms happen to be rather flexible so I think I've got washing my back covered..." I tease. Cheza responds by punching my chest.

"Okay, so maybe it's not the only reason I'm here..." Cheza says, getting a little sudsy as she presses herself up against me. Then something of mine decides to press up against her.

Cheza and I start to make out a little. I massage her breasts and she moans slightly in response before I break away for a moment.

"Jeez, what has gotten into you today!?" I ask, even though I have a hunch that it has something to do with what Katie said.

"Not what I would like to get into me," Cheza replies as she grabs my groin while moving in to kiss me. We continue making out for a few seconds before I remember one very important detail.

"Hold up. We can't do this now, not here where Tia is probably listening in on us," I say and then my hearing picks up Tia.

"It's only fair! I mean, you listened in on me when I was in the shower!" Tia says.

"I don't care," Cheza responds with a sultry tone as she reinitiates our session.

Damn she is frisky this morning! However, I really don't want our first time to be in a shower, or anywhere that Tia can hear us... Maybe if I get her off, she'll be satisfied for today. I break off our kissing to move my head towards her breasts while trailing my hand down further. I probably should have made sure all the suds were off because it tastes like I'm washing my mouth out with soap, and nothing like chocolate despite the claims of the Axe corporation. Although, I am hooking up with a really attractive girl so that means that their product is working, right? After a few minutes, her moaning increases and I feel her tense up as she finishes.

Well now that that's over, I reach out to turn off the shower, but Cheza smacks my hand away.

"No... don't... stop," Cheza says, breathing heavily as she pushes my bottles over to the side before she hops up and sits on the ledge.

I guess I should explain: in my shower there is a ledge that is about a foot wide and three feet high, which is where I set my shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. All of those are now off to the side and in their place is Cheza's bare ass with her legs spread open.

"Please Cole?" Cheza asks while giving me the pouty look that she knows that I can't say no to.

This is the kind of thing that I can't let Lila know about. If she realizes the affect this kind of look has on me, I'll be putty in her hands. I melt like putty and get on my knees in front of Cheza.

She seems to like what I'm doing, but after a few minutes my tongue starts to feel sore. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? I decide to switch methods to one involving the 'beckoning' finger motion and feel her cross the finish line less than a minute later. As she sits there convulsing slightly, I move up and kiss her.

"Is that enough now?" I think to her.

Cheza looks at me and a 'Tia' smile forms on her face while she locks her legs around my pelvis and brings me toward her. I try to pull back, but her legs are like, crazy strong.

"Never enough... I'm not letting you go until you penetrate me, Cole," Cheza thinks.

"Cheza..." I say aloud.

"Please Cole?" Cheza asks with that pouty look again. Dammit! I move myself up to her opening.

"Oh, but turn the shower off first. I feel kinda bad about wasting so much water..." Cheza thinks.

"Nope," I think.

I'm tempted to just ram her because I'm a little peeved that she has used my weakness against me twice this morning. However, I don't because it would hurt her and I don't want that... not for any gentlemanly reason, but because what if her pain transfers over? That would be way too freaky for me to deal with.

(Says the man who flays beings to death, rescues fairy princesses, creates things using his blood, and can survive being stabbed in the chest thrice, as well as through his heart)

"Touché."

Anyway, I enter her slowly while focusing a lot of effort to block out any pain so that I don't need extensive therapy. She winces once as the last part goes in.

"Move," Cheza commands. I listen and slowly build up speed.

"Faster," Cheza commands and I increase the speed some more.

_(Jackhammer me, Eddie! Jackhammer me!)_

I resist the urge to laugh as Cheza wraps her arms around the back of my neck and pulls herself into me as she starts panting in my ear.

"Harder!" Cheza moans out loud.

I slide my hands underneath her and pick her up. I push her up against the glass wall that connects to the shower door as I start to get into it. I'm glad that this wall is sturdy otherwise this could have turned into a bad time really quickly. Cheza passes the finish line of her third time around the track, and I realize that I'm almost there as well.

"Cheza, I'm about to have a problem in a second so I need you to unhook your legs now!" I urgently think.

"No," she says aloud while panting and digging her finger nails into my back so that my body's natural response is to move closer to her.

"What do you mean, no!?" I frantically ask.

"Seriously Cheza, I need you to unhook your legs, like now!" I panic.

"Just do it inside!" Cheza moans.

"WHAT!?" I shout as I try to pull away, her fingernails cutting my back open.

"HOW ARE YOUR LEGS THIS FREAKISHLY STRONG!?" I yell. Her muscles tighten and push me over the edge as I release.

Fuck! As a guy, I've been conditioned to avoid this type of situation. This type of situation can lead to a baby and a baby is the worst possible outcome of sex! I back up into the wall and slide down its length as Cheza collapses onto my chest. The scent of frozen Mandarin oranges fills my nostrils as I notice that Cheza might be unconscious. I reach up and put shampoo in my hair, followed by conditioner so that I can finish my shower. I sit there under the stream as my hair gets rinsed before reaching up to turn the water off.

Okay, now I'm pretty sure Cheza is unconscious, but at least she has a smile on her face.

(If sex is a weapon then Smash, Boom, POW! How you like me now?)

"Haha! Them Crooked Vultures! Nice one, Airi!"

I am about to get us out of the shower to dry off when I realize something: what am I supposed to do about the stuff that's in her? Do I just get a water bottle with a nozzle on it and squirt it up there?

"Tia, I need a little advice here. I came inside and Cheza is currently unconscious on my chest. What do I do about that stuff?" I whisper.

"Oh, don't worry about it, that problem takes care of itself naturally. And don't fret too much. She's on birth control so you have a pretty decent chance of her not getting pregnant!" Tia informs me.

"Alright, thanks Tia," I whisper as I stand up.

If Cheza does get pregnant, I wonder if I can just stop it by starting her period with my blood... okay that is by far the weirdest idea I've ever had. I carry Cheza out of the shower and start to towel her off when she wakes up.

"Oh, good! This makes things so much easier. Here's a towel. I'm going to grab another," I say as I hand her the towel before walking to my dresser.

I towel off as Cheza wraps herself in the towel and heads to her room. I get dressed in cargo shorts and a white t-shirt so that I'm ready for anything today. I walk out at the same time Cheza does and we both walk into the kitchen.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" Tia, Natasha, and Sara shout as they pull party poppers, causing confetti to explode everywhere. There's a banner hanging in the kitchen that says 'IT'S ABOUT TIME!'

Oh gods... there's even a cake.

I now know for certain that my family is bizarre, and that my life is really fucked up.

Chapter 22: When anger and rage pour forth

"Okay so I have to admit, this cake is pretty damn good! Thanks Sara!" I exclaim.

"I... MA... SO... PROW... DUFFYU!" Tia blubbers like a mother as her son goes off to college. This has got to be the most emotion I've ever seen from her and also confirms that my suspicion for the only situation where she could have been prouder was spot on.

"How did you have time to bake a cake though? Don't they take approximately forty-five minutes to make?" I ask while ignoring Tia, who is having a mild breakdown.

"Well Tia told me to start baking one because it was going to happen this time, unlike a few nights ago, so I did," Sara says.

"And she told Sara because she overheard me telling Cheza about last night!" Natasha exclaims behind Sara, referring to how my insensibly logical brain almost led me into having sex with her. I respond by glaring at her.

"Cole, you and Cheza were in there for almost two hours," Sara says while pointing at the clock that reads 9:08am.

"Shit! Has Dagda already come by?" I ask as I shovel the rest of my slice of cake into my mouth.

"Relax! You're going to choke! He hasn't come by yet," Sara replies while the doorbell rings. I get up, answer the door, and see that it's Dagda.

"Ah Dagda, we were just talking about you! Do you want some cake?" I ask.

"Not now, boyo. We've got trouble. Grab your things," Dagda urgently replies.

I run and grab my old holster, putting a Diamond sword in the slip on the back. I really need to make a sheath for this thing when I find the time.

"Alright, what kind of trouble are we dealing with?" I ask as Cheza looks upon the scene with concern.

"It's Lila..." Dagda says and puts a hand on my shoulder.

We port to the gate/gazebo before Dagda snaps his fingers and we arrive in the foyer of Aine's palace. Dagda leads me through a series a corridors until we reach a hallway where I see Aine, a man that must be the head butler, and someone who is possibly a security guard.

"Aine, what's going on?" I ask, businesslike in my approach. Aine looks like a nervous wreck.

"Lila has barricaded herself in her room and she isn't responding to us..." Aine explains, panicking slightly.

I expand my hearing and listen in to the room. I hear Lila quietly crying and whispering something in the back left corner. The crying is muffled, most likely by clothing or a blanket, so I can't make out what she is whispering.

"I'm going to break the door down. Is that alright, Aine?" I ask as I reach into my pocket and Aine nods the affirmative.

"Oh, and it's also going to make a bit of a mess so I need you two to go get a mop, a bucket, and blacksmithing hammer," I order the other two men just to get them out of here because I don't trust them enough to show them how I make the Mu-cutter. They nod and run off.

I pull out my switchblade and slice my right wrist open, just below the bracelet. I form the Mu-cutter and slash a giant X through the door. The door falls to pieces and the large dresser that is barricading it practically explodes. I disengage the Mu-cutter and slowly walk across the room towards Lila. Aine starts to follow me in, but Dagda stops her for some reason.

Lila is in the corner with a blanket over her, cowering in the same fashion as she was three nights ago. As I approach her, I pick up her quiet whispering.

"No more... please... just make it stop..." Lila whispers while shaking in the corner.

"Lila... it's alright now... you aren't there anymore... you're safe," I softly say to her.

She flinches away in response and tries to move further into the corner. I notice that she appears to be naked under the blanket.

"No..." Lila says, slightly louder.

I kneel down beside her and she tries to back up further, but finds that she's unable and starts to hyperventilate. This probably isn't the right thing to do, but I grab her, pull her into my chest, and proceed to hold her tenderly.

"No! Don't touch me!" Lila screams as she uses her fingernails to tear my chest apart through my t-shirt. About two minutes later, my chest is ripped into red confetti and Lila's frantic scratching slows down as she starts crying harder.

"Lila... it's me, Cole. Everything is going to be okay," I calmly say.

I'm glad that I don't really bleed, otherwise there would blood all over my shirt, and Lila doesn't need that extra trauma.

"Cole?" Lila asks, sounding as though she is waking up. I slowly lift the blanket off of her face while pushing her away slightly so she can see.

"COLE!" Lila cries out when she sees my face.

She throws her arms around me as she cries into my newly scratch-free chest. I just hold her gently for the five minutes it takes for her to calm down.

"I thought you were that man again... like before... like in my nightmare..." Lila says and starts crying again.

"Shhhh, everything is going to be okay, Lila..." I wait for a few minutes for her to calm down again. This probably isn't the best thing to ask, but I need the information.

"Lila, what did this man look like?" I gently ask.

"He was taller than you, had long silver hair, and these menacing steel-blue eyes that looked maniacally happy when he laughed as he... as he..." Lila tells me as tears start to fall down her face.

"Shhhh. Lila, that's enough. You don't have to think about that ever again," I say, trying to snap her out of the memory.

"Do you want to go back to my house? There's cake!" What do you say to a thirteen year old girl who was just stuck in a memory from when she was getting raped?

She thinks for a moment before nodding and turning her face back into my shirt. I lift her up and use my left forearm to support her blanketed bottom as she holds onto me like a baby orangutan clinging onto its mother. I look at Aine for permission and she nods in response.

"Here, let's get you dressed first... oh..." I say while setting her down as I look at the explosion of cut-up garments everywhere.

I grab the nearest pair of hole-less panties that I can find and I hold them open for her to step inside them. I slide them up her legs and underneath the blanket that Lila is holding around her at hand level so that it creates a large V from her shoulders to her pelvis. After I reach the top of her legs, I notice something that causes rage to start bubbling inside me.

There are two hand-shaped bruises on her hips.

I grab a dress and throw it on her before picking her up again, feeling her shake as I do so... no wait, that's me.

"Cole? Cole, what's wrong!?" Cheza frantically asks, smashing her way into my mind.

"I'll tell you later," I sternly reply as I close the connection.

I look over and nod at Dagda. He simply snaps us to the gate, puts a hand on my shoulder, and ports us to the house.

I walk through the front door and set Lila down on the couch.

"Wait here," I gently tell Lila and head to Natasha's room. I knock on her door as I open it. Thankfully, Natasha is clothed in jeans and a light green graphic t-shirt.

"Natasha, can you come and hang out with Lila for a little while?" I firmly request.

My face must tell her that what we had talked about last night has turned out to be true because she follows me to the living room without question. Natasha sits next to Lila on the couch and turns on the TV while I cut a slice of cake for Lila.

"Hey Lila, can you stay here and hang out with Natasha for a little while until I get back?" I ask.

Lila looks a little worried about me leaving, but she nods and takes a bite of cake. I walk out the front door to where Dagda is waiting.

"I need some information. I assume you were listening in. Does anyone fit that description?" I ask.

"Well, given the circumstances, I'd say it was Fenrir, son of Loki and master of werewolves..." Dagda replies.

"Fenrir... port us back to Tir na nOg please," I request while clenched and shaking.

Dagda ports us to the gate and then to an open field.

"Dagda... can you make homunculi since we are in your realm? I need to kill something or I'm going to snap," I ask while still shaking with my restraint.

"I can create an illusion o' them. They will react like people would but they'll be fake, without consciousness," Dagda replies.

"Perfect... can you make them have blood?" I request.

"That I can," Dagda answers.

"Do it... please," I request, barely containing the rage inside me that tells me to render the flesh from bones and destroy everything.

The illusion pops up: twenty armed soldiers around me in an arena of rubble while the sky glows red. My helmet wraps around my head as I draw my sword, and take off. I slice and hack all of them to pieces at a speed that doesn't even allow for their blood to get on me. I hack up the final group of five men at the same time. I stand there, allowing their blood to rain down on me as I revel in the chorus of screams.

My rage dissipates but doesn't disappear. Good, that is just the way I wanted it. I want to give Fenrir a taste of this rage when I find him. The illusion dissolves and I find myself standing back in the field with Dagda who is looking rather shocked.

"Damn, boyo! That was impressive! You were movin' at about three quarters o' the speed I can reach! That was a huge improvement to your speed from yesterday!" Dagda exclaims.

"I guess rage is a good fuel source for my speed," I state emotionlessly.

"Hey Dagda, can I get that brand that will allow me to port to Tir na nOg? I feel responsible for Lila in some strange way and being able to port to Tir na nOg would allow me to spend more time with her. Hopefully to give her some sense of relief. It would also make training easier because I could just port here in the mornings instead of having you 'give me a ride,' so to speak," I explain.

"That's not a bad idea... would it even work though? Wouldn't your blood just heal it?" Dagda asks.

"Don't worry about that, I've got an idea," I tell him.

"Well alright, lad. Let's go see Manannan mac Lir," Dagda says and snaps his fingers.

I find myself in a large, open forge. I see Manannan mac Lir fiddling with something at a workbench while wearing a leather blacksmithing apron.

"I need you to brand Cole," Dagda announces.

Manannan mac Lir just gives a gruff nod and grabs a triskele (or tri-swirl) branding iron off of the wall and sticks it in the embers of his forge.

"Alright lad, we need to pick a place that won't be easily cut. This is goin' to hurt regardless so pick a place where you want to have it," Dagda informs me.

"My left shoulder blade," I say.

I slide my holster off, pull off my shirt, and stick the strap of the holster in my mouth. Manannan mac Lir looks to me for confirmation before he pulls the iron out of the forge.

"Airi, stop all healing. When the brand is finished, I want you to fill in the space with blood and turn it into silicon carbide before you restart healing to get rid of the burnt skin around it."

(Once it is in the form of silicon carbide, you will never be able to remove it)

"That's fine. Oh, and try to block Cheza from this if you can."

I nod to Manannan mac Lir and he sticks the branding iron on my left shoulder blade. He holds it there for the longest fifteen seconds on my life. I'm really glad I stuck the strap of my holster in my mouth; otherwise I probably would have cracked a tooth.

"How do I use it?" I ask, slightly out of breath. Dagda snaps his fingers and we appear at the gate.

"Well, you have to think of where you need to go and then you just touch the symbol. This one is already set to port between your house and the gate," Dagda explains.

"Alright, I'll give it a shot. I'll probably be back in about an hour or so. There's no way I was able to keep that much pain from Cheza so she is probably going to freak out at me for a while and not allow me to leave the house," I inform him.

"Don't worry about it, lad. We can resume trainin' tomorrow. Just look after Lila," Dagda says.

I nod in response. While holding onto my shirt and holster with my left hand, I think of home.

"There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home," I say while clicking my heels together three times before touching the triskele brand.

The last thing I hear is Dagda's laughter.

Chapter 23: There is no standard protocol

The first thing I hear is the sound of wind rushing past my ears. I fall thirty feet to the ground as if I were dropped from a tornado... Goddamn flying monkeys! Note to self: keep clear images when porting. I land in the yard as I feel the shock of the impact travel up my bones. I walk up to the front door and into the house.

Oh look! It's Cheza in her training clothes, and she looks piiiiiiiiiissed! She grabs my hand and pulls me into my room.

"SIT DOWN!" Cheza commands. I toss my holster on the bed and sit down.

"Now, vat did you zhink you vere doing?...EXPLAIN!" Cheza shouts with a German accent that is kind of turning me on, in a weird way. I suddenly have this flash back of her straddling me while shocking me with the car battery in Hawaii.

"Look Mistress! I got a tattoo... kinda!" I say as I turn around.

"Tattoo my ass! Last I checked, tattoos wouldn't hurt that bad and they definitely aren't silver and singed around the outside!" Cheza shouts.

"Silver?" I ask.

I walk into the bathroom and I see that the three spirals of the triskele are indeed silver... just like the lotus... is the lotus a religious symbol? If I remember correctly, the lotus is a prominent figure in Buddhism and Hinduism. I recall the bits conversation I overheard between Tia and Sara and again when Sara was on her phone. Whatever is going on, I'm sure that Sara's mom is somehow involved... Wait, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. This is all based off the interpretation that this is actually a lotus and that my blood turns silver with religious symbols when two examples is hardly scientifically relevant. I'd need at least three examples...

"Hmm, that's interesting. Anyway, I got this because it allows me to port to Tir na nOg so I can spend more time with Lila," I tell Cheza after walking back into my room.

"Why do you need to spend more time with Lila!?" Cheza frantically asks.

"Cheza, there's something I haven't told you about. You should probably sit down. Well, thirteen years ago, I met this girl named Trixie in Carson City—" I start.

"COLE!" Cheza screams, not enjoying the joke so I put on my serious face.

"I want to help her, Cheza," I quietly say.

"What do you mean? Does this have anything to do with your anger earlier?" she asks.

"Did you see the bruises on her?" I ask, thinking that I may have sent an image back then.

"You mean the four skinny bruises on each of her hips? I thought they looked kind of like fingers, but what do they have to do with anything?" she asks.

"Cheza... take what we did this morning, and take away the 'consensual' part..." I explain and Cheza's eyes go wide.

"Alright Cole, I understand now," Cheza quietly replies.

"By the way, how did you get rid of your anger earlier?" she asks.

"I satiated my rage with the blood and screams of twenty people," I blatantly state as Cheza looks at me in shock. I send her the information about the illusion via image.

"Anyway, we are taking Lila to the mall because I kind of sliced the majority of her clothes in half," I add and Cheza gives me an incredulous look.

"She had barricaded herself in her room using her dresser so when I used my Mu-cutter to slice down her door, her dresser exploded in the process. Since it's my fault, we are going to the mall... I also want to take her someplace to try and get her mind off of things and I doubt she has ever been to a mall," I explain.

"Alright, let's go," Cheza says.

I pull my shirt on and we exit my room. We enter the living room and I see that Lila and Natasha are engrossed in a movie.

"Hey Lila, do you want to go to the mall?" I ask as Lila turns around.

I watch Lila's face light up at the prospect as I remember one very important detail that had slipped my mind. Did I mention that this cute little girl has wings that are very noticeable?

"Hey Natasha, what's the standard protocol on fairies in malls?" I ask.

"*Sigh* Cole, are you trying to give me another headache? There is no standard protocol for fairies in malls because they have fucking wings!" Natasha exclaims.

"We also have ears... and I'd like to go to the mall, if we can..." Lila says with a downtrodden tone while hanging her head.

I glare at Natasha as she opens her mouth to say something to fix this situation, but she can't think of anything.

"Don't worry, Cole. Sara has a solution. I heard your plan and I approve so Cheza, no training today," Tia announces, coming in from the kitchen. "Apparently Sara had been wondering about this problem since the first moment you showed up with Lila. She's working on it now and said she can have it done in about thirty minutes."

"Great, what's the solution?" I ask.

"A disguise," Tia answers.

"Tia, how in the hell do you disguise three foot wings?" I ask.

"Just wait and you will see," Tia answers so we all sit down on the couch and watch the movie.

They're watching the first Harry Potter movie and Lila loves it. I see us watching the rest of the Harry Potter movies sometime in the near future. Sara comes out holding something that looks a lot like my holster with a piece of cardboard on the back of it.

"Lila, could you try this on please?" Sara asks and Lila gets up to try it on. "It may be a little uncomfortable, but the cardboard has to look like it is attached to your wings."

"It's not that uncomfortable at all! Thank you, Sara!" Lila exclaims as she turns around and hugs Sara. The cardboard is wedged between her wings, making it look like the straps are holding the wings onto her back.

"This means we can go, right Natasha!?" Lila asks with excitement.

"...Of Course!" Natasha answers even though I can tell she is unsure about it.

"Hey Cole, come to my room for a minute. Cheza, you should probably get ready to go," Sara states as she walks toward her room.

I hop over the couch and follow Sara while Cheza runs off to her room to change out of her training clothes as I notice that she is walking a little funny...hehe. I walk into Sara's room.

"It's done, Cole!" Sara exclaims, beaming as she points to her desk where my new pouch sits. I stick the pouch to my back at about lumbar-level.

"I decided to add more discs to the back and make it so they follow along the perimeter. I figured that if you were running around, the pouch might slip off if there were only two discs," Sara says.

"Just a second," I reply, run to my room, grab my gun, put it in the new holster, and return to Sara's room.

I do a quick draw of both the Sic dagger and the gun. I eject the magazine and try reloading the gun one-handed. The magazine locks into the gun and I feel another magazine being pushed out behind the one I just loaded. It works perfectly. It appears that WFNGC rounds are loaded in the gun now, meaning that the JHP rounds must be in the other ejector.

"This is awesome, Sara! I love you so much right now!" I ecstatically announce as I hug her while trying not to be reminded of the events that nearly caused me to end her life a few nights ago.

"So you only love me when I make things for you?" Sara sarcastically asks.

"No, I love you all of the time, Sara!" I exclaim with a grin while not adding 'except for when I thought you were a traitor that I was going to interrogate and kill.'

"Good. Now, I want you to take the pouch with you and try out the stealth factor at the mall. Now get going! I don't think Lila wants to wait anymore!" She exclaims with a smile and I walk out into the living room.

I find Cheza waiting in the living room with Natasha and Lila, wearing a bleached yellow tank top and white shorts. I grab the keys to the Mercedes SUV, which I can only assume that somebody drove home from Tempe and it didn't just magically appear in our garage. I grab my jacket from the car and put it on to cover my holster pack. Lila and Natasha get in the back while Cheza sits passenger and I drive us to the mall.

We start getting looks the moment we exit the car. I grab Lila's hand to set the appearance that she is my little sister who likes wearing angel wings. I notice Lila's face is red a few minutes later as we enter the mall.

"I know this is a little embarrassing, but just bear with it," I whisper to her.

"Oh, no I'm fine!" Lila replies as I hear Natasha giggle behind me for some reason.

We walk into JC Penny's and head over to the girl's section. Lila tries to search around for clothes, but her wings keep getting stuck on the tightly packed racks of clothing so she just comes over and stands next to me while Natasha and Cheza look. They find a few things and proceed to take Lila back to the dressing room to try them on. I peruse the clothing nearby, but it's mostly just to fend off boredom. The girls come out about fifteen minutes later and we head over to the registers to buy the two pairs of jeans and a couple halter top shirts that actually fit with her wings. We repeat this process with two more stores where the girls find a Gothic Lolita dress that actually doesn't look too bad on Lila. As we are walking to the fourth store, I look down at Lila and see her eyeing the various food places.

"Hey Lila, are you hungry?" I ask the little winged-girl that is connected to my hand. She tenses slightly when I ask her, then she nods while blushing and avoiding my face. I see a P.F. Chang's which I figure would be good because she probably has never had Chinese food... American-Chinese food.

"Hey, let's grab some lunch," I say to Natasha and Cheza.

"Okay, I'm pretty hungry anyway," Cheza replies and Natasha agrees.

Once we are seated in P.F. Chang's, I pull out my phone and discover that it is already 3:30PM, meaning that we've been in the mall for nearly five hours. I'm a patient man, but I've had enough for today.

"Let's head home after this," I say as we finish our lunch that Lila seems to be enjoying.

"Yeah, it is getting late," Natasha agrees.

I pay for lunch and we head back to the car. On the drive home, I notice a pet store. Lila might enjoy that, so I pull in to the parking lot. Rush-hour traffic is already unavoidable anyway so why not?

"Come on, Lila. We will just be a couple of minutes. Do you two want to come?" I ask Natasha and Cheza, who both look at each other and then shake their heads.

"Alright then, let's go, Lila," I announce and leave the car on.

I exit the car, open Lila's door, grab her hand, and help her out of the car. It ain't easy having wings. The look Cheza and Natasha gave each other was suspicious so I enhance my hearing as we head towards the pet store. We walk into the pet store and Lila's face lights up as she looks at all the animals.

"I think it's nice that we gave her some alone time with her first love," Cheza says.

"Yeah, I agree. Don't you feel the least bit threatened by her though?" Natasha asks.

"Threatened? No, not at all. Cole is too dense to even notice her feelings, let alone respond to them," Cheza replies.

"I don't think Cole is all that dense. He's just too stupid to notice the obvious signs when he's dealing with girls that are younger than him. All my advances he's responded to in one way or another..." Natasha says with a tone that implies the presence of a sly smile on her face.

Are they right about Lila having a crush on me? It would certainly explain a few things, mostly the flushed faces, and the reason why she hangs on to me so often...

They have kitties and puppies and all the other standard pets. Lila makes a lap around the store and then stops at a cage that has two chinchillas playing. She watches them for over a minute and I take the hint quick enough to ask an employee if I can hold one. He grabs one of the chinchillas from the cage and hands it to me. I kneel down so Lila can pet it.

"It's so soft!" Lila ecstatically exclaims.

The employee gets called away so I let Lila hold the chinchilla. She would have been able to with zero problems if she actually looked like she was thirteen, but she's only as tall as a six year old and the wings didn't help her seem older. I check my phone and see that it's 5:04PM so we've been in here for about half an hour.

"Alright Lila, we need to get going," I say and watch as her face falls. "Don't worry! We can come back another time, I promise."

"Alright. Thanks Cole!" Lila replies as she gives me a hug. Now that I'm aware of it, the possibility of her having a crush on me is rather obvious.

Chapter 24: Rage Round 2

We get into the car and drive on I-10 to get home. I take the exit ramp and drive through a few lights to get to the county road that leads to the house. When we are stopped at one of the lights, Natasha suddenly starts breathing heavily in the back seat.

"Cole, quickly change seats with me!" Natasha urgently exclaims.

"What? Why?" I ask, obviously not comprehending her sense of urgency.

"JUST SWITCH SEATS WITH ME DAMMIT!" Natasha screams and we pull a quick 'Chinese fire drill'.

"Can you tell me what's going on now?" I ask when I've hopped in the back seat.

"An SUV full of Weres is set to ambush us on this road," Natasha says while trying to regain control of her breathing.

"...what type of Weres?" I ask as I feel my anger's interest gets piqued.

"Wolves, why does it matter?" Natasha asks.

Fenrir. My rage bubbles to the surface as my helmet engages.

"Cole?" Cheza asks as she feels my rage building.

I look out the back window and see a Chevrolet Suburban SUV rapidly approaching. I focus and see five white outlines and five yellow, crescent-like centers. I still have enough sense left to zip up my jacket in spite of my rage, but that's about all the say my common sense gets.

"When bullets start flying, I want Lila and Cheza to get down in between the seats. Natasha, how is your evasive driving?" I ask with the creepy overlapping voice.

"Not that great," Natasha answers honestly.

"Good because I just want you to drive steadily and not evade because it will fuck up my shot," I reply.

As the Suburban gets closer, they open fire with automatic weapons. I'm about to shout for Lila and Cheza to get down when I realize that this car is armored. That is really convenient.

"Never mind about the getting down part, this car must be bulletproof for low calibers. Now, if you'll excuse me," I say as I open up my door.

I hang out of the car, take aim, and fire a WFNGC round. I hit the passenger side's assault rifle (possibly a FAMAS) that was shooting at us and I watch as the thing practically shatters, damaging the shooter in the process. With their firing currently ceased, I take the opportunity to climb onto the roof.

This seemed like a good idea at the time, but as I stand on top of a car going 60 mph, it starts to seem like a pretty stupid idea. Several pictures suddenly flash through my head: the frantically clawing Lila bundle, the sobbing Lila bundle, and finally the bruises. I pull my Sic dagger from my pack as I holster my gun.

"Thanks, Airi."

My rage hits its peak and everything slows down around me. Leaping from the top of the Mercedes, I fly towards the werewolves' Suburban. I stab into the roof of the SUV to stop myself and I use my momentum to kick the right backseat window open. I jump in and slice the heads off the three werewolves in the back seat. I decapitate the passenger seat werewolf before stabbing the Sic dagger through the driver's seat and into the driver. The carnage is magnificent. Blood is just fountaining from the necks of the decapitated werewolves as it coats all the windows, the windshield, the driver, and myself. Some part of me is getting a massive amount of pleasure from this, so much that I get lost.

I'm snapped out of it as I fly through the windshield and into a saguaro cactus. I have roughly three dozen spines in my ass and the backs of my legs, but it's nothing I can't handle. The driver of the crashed SUV seems to be unconscious at the wheel and might be bleeding, but it's difficult to tell. I hear more gunshots as I see a second Suburban full of werewolf auras screech to a stop near the parked Mercedes that is about a hundred yards away. I see Natasha firing her pistol from the car. She hits two of them, not even slowing them down, before taking a grazing shot to her right arm, causing her to drop the gun.

I watch in horror as Cheza gets out of the car and tries to do something frosty. I need to intervene before she does something that she will regret! Dammit! Why can't I move!? She sprints forward and takes out the werewolf that is closest to the passenger side by grabbing his neck and freezing his throat shut.

Then Cheza takes two rounds to her stomach. I look on in shock as Cheza grabs her stomach and collapses.

Something snaps as I roar in pain and rage before clenching my body into a ball. I kick off from the cactus and sprint forward. I'm there in a flash, running up to two of the werewolves, picking both of them up by the neck, crushing their throats like twigs, and throwing them at saguaro cacti hard enough to make them both stick. I rush over to the fourth werewolf and punch my fist through his stomach to wrap my hand around his spine before grabbing his head and tearing it off. I pelt the severed head at the werewolf that shot Cheza, stunning him and knocking the gun from his hands.

I flash over there and rip his left arm off at the socket while slowing down because I want him to feel this. He falls to the ground where he proceeds to start screaming and writhing around as he holds onto his left shoulder. I feel myself roar again, a demonic sounding roar caused by the helmet's voice modulation. I start beating the shit out of the werewolf with his own arm, smashing his left leg into pieces, but also causing his left arm to shatter so I grab his right leg and tear it off. His screams send a grim satisfaction to my face as I start to beat his ribcage, careful to avoid his heart so that he doesn't die too quickly.

I've beaten his ribcage to a pulpy mass as I feel the gore splatter across me, continuing long after I've punctured both his lungs, which cut off the werewolf's screaming. His leg makes contact with his torso until it's unidentifiable before moving on to his head. I just keep swinging his leg down over and over until I feel Cheza wrap her arms around my torso as our link explodes open.

"COLE! COME BACK TO ME! PLEASE!" Cheza screams in my mind as I come to my sense. I drop the leg as my helmet retracts.

"I'm sorry, Cheza..." I quietly think as I look at the mass on the ground.

It reminds me of road-kill that I've seen. Ones that have been run over so many times that you can no longer tell if it was an animal or ten pounds of ground beef that fell off of a meat truck and was then ran over several times.

I glance at the car and see Lila staring at me in horror out of the back window.

"Sorry to shatter your illusion of me, but this is what I really am, Lila," I whisper aloud as I look away from her.

I stumble off to the side and proceed to throw up my lunch. Cheza just follows me and starts rubbing my back as I puke my guts out with my hands on my knees. I look around and see nine dead auras, but the driver of the wrecked SUV is still alive.

"Are you alright?" I silently ask Cheza.

"Yeah, Cole. I'll be fine," Cheza thinks as I see the two sealed bullet holes on her stomach. We need to get those out of her.

"What about nonphysical things?" I ask, referring to her state of mind after she just killed someone.

"I'm alright, Cole. I did what was necessary," Cheza thinks, hopefully not just rationalizing it to herself.

"Wait here, I'm going to get some answers," I think to Cheza as I walk back to the crashed SUV.

I wrench open the back left door and pull my Sic dagger out of the driver's seat as the driver moans. It seems that he's almost recovered, which is rather impressive. I rip open the driver's side door and drag the driver out of the car. He groans loudly as he falls to the ground and is dragged about fifteen yards from the car. I stab the Sic dagger into his right shoulder and twist it, causing him to scream.

"I need answers. Who gave you your orders? Who is your master?" I ask and stop twisting.

"FUCK YOU!" the werewolf screams.

"Look... I'm tired and I have several dozen cacti spines sticking out of my ass so I'd like to do this the easy way. You are going to talk eventually, they always do. Once I start flaying them, it doesn't take long for them to give me the information and beg for death. So do you feel like going through immense pain before dying or do you feel like telling me what I need know and get to die painlessly?" I offer.

"Fenrir told us to inform the being that liked to flay people that he was looking forward to seeing his child soon," the werewolf says and starts laughing before I slice through his neck.

I don't know who my father is but...

Oh Fuck Me

Chapter 25: The Rice Crispy elves are pricks

"Natasha, are you alright to drive?" I ask after walking back to the car, upon seeing Natasha holding her arm.

"Yeah, no problem. What did the wolf say?" she asks.

"Fenrir," I reply, leaving out the part about how he might be my dad... oh, and the one that raped Lila. "Lila, can you please sit on Cheza's lap? I need to lie down in the back."

"Sure, Cole," Lila quietly says.

"Natasha, come here," I say as I take my switchblade out and slice my hand open. "My blood will be able to create a more effective seal than stitches will and it will allow your arm to heal without leaving a scar."

"Don't worry about it, Cole. You don't have to do that for me," Natasha says.

"Who says I'm doing it for you? I just don't want you bleeding on the upholstery. Don't worry, none of my blood will be going inside so I won't be able to do anything with it and I wouldn't if I could," I tell her as I limp over and gently grab her right bicep. My blood creates a seal around the chunk of arm that she is missing. I put a little more in and have it fill in the place for her missing muscle. Well, I guess I lied a little.

"Cole, you can't really talk about me bleeding on the upholstery when you are currently dripping with blood and I can't even tell which of it is yours," Natasha teases.

"Touché!" I laugh so nothing else surfaces.

We all pile in the car, Natasha drives the fifteen minutes that it takes us to get home, and we pull into the driveway. Sara and Tia rush out to meet us just after we step out of the car.

"What the hell happened? I know shopping can be brutal, but this is ridiculous!" Tia exclaims.

"We were attacked by ten werewolves. Sara, I need you to go inside and prep an area for surgery to remove the two bullets from Cheza's stomach. Don't worry about having a completely sterile environment, my blood won't allow anything to get infected. Tia, I need you to grab a pair of pliers from the garage. Needle-nose would probably be best, but it doesn't really matter. Natasha, watch the second Harry Potter movie with Lila," I order as we walk into the house.

Sara heads off to her room while I limp inside. These spines are really a pain in my ass... har har.

Tia comes back from the garage as I head to the corner of the kitchen and into the laundry room. I take my jacket off and place it in the large sink to let it soak so that it doesn't dye the inside of the washer later. I walk back into the kitchen as Sara comes out.

"Cole, Rei, Tia, come on," Sara says and waves us down the hall.

We follow her back to her room, and into her closet. We pass by rows of various materials and parts to I don't know what. She opens a door at the back of her closet and leads us down a spiral stone staircase... at least this one has lights. We reach the bottom of the stairs and walk down a hallway with doors on both sides. Judging by how far we've walked, I'd say that we are under the garage... I think. A terrible sense of direction falls into the 'geography is not my forte' category.

I suddenly get this picture in my head of me opening one of the doors and seeing Narnia. I chuckle as I get another picture: I open another door and see the Keebler elf tree-factory. Then I get another picture: I open a third door, a rush of steam flows out and I find the three Rice Crispy elves sitting in a sauna. One of them shouts "Hey Asshole! Shut the door, you're letting all of the steam out!"

I'm laughing now, causing the girls to turn around and stare at me, even Cheza.

"Why didn't she tell me...?" Cheza quietly asks while she pouts.

"Hey Airi, why didn't you let Cheza in on the joke?"

(Because Chezarei has two bullets in her stomach and laughing would have hurt, thus making the joke less funny)

"Wow... thanks, Airi. That was very considerate."

(Plus, don't you find her pouting face to be rather endearing?)

"Yeah, she does look pretty cute..."

(Like videos of animals close-up with a wide angle lens)

"No, Cheza is cuter than that."

(Like close-up animals with a wide angel lens... wearing hats?)

"Cuuuute. Suuuuper Cuuuuute."

_(And we don't even need to ingest massive amounts of cough syrup to think so)_

I start cracking up, which only causes Cheza to pout even more. The nice thing about making jokes with the voice inside your head is that you both understand all of the obscure South Park references. I can make these jokes with Cheza and she gets the majority of them because she grew up around Jason and me, but it's not quite the same.

"Uh... Cole? Are you okay?" Tia asks.

"Heh... Yeah. Airi is just really funny, that's all," I reply.

Sara keeps walking until she reaches the last door on the left side of the hallway. She enters the room, revealing it to be like one you would find at a clinic, complete with an examination table.

"Alright Cheza, hop up on the table and take your top off," Sara casually says.

Sara starts putting on gloves, a mask, and eyewear as Cheza gets on the table and takes her tank top off. Sara starts rubbing the area on her stomach with surgical alcohol.

"Shouldn't you be using iodine instead?" I ask.

"Yeah that would be better if we had to worry about infection, but it's a bitch to get off of your skin so I'm not going to," Sara replies. I walk over to Cheza's side and she looks embarrassed.

"Oh, don't worry I won't be watching," I reply, guessing that that's what she is embarrassed about because I had already seen her topless nine hours ago when I was humping her brains out in the shower. "I'll be preoccupied while I'm bent over the counter as Tia rips these spines out of my ass with a pair of pliers."

"Okay, and don't worry Cole... I forgive you for... knocking me out... again," Cheza says while drifting off as I slowly block the blood flow to her brain.

"Sara, can you please inject a local anesthetic, like Lidocain, into her stomach? It would be a bit of a help in keeping her asleep," I ask.

(Anesthetics are not recommended for your plan. Transference of pain will be interrupted)

"I have Novocain, but that's about it..." Sara replies.

"Never mind. Airi says that I shouldn't. Don't worry about bleeding or stitches. I can take care of that part," I say as I walk to, and lean over, the counter.

"Airi, I need you to block Cheza, disable her healing, and transfer all pain to me please."

(Of course, my masochistic master)

"Alright Sara, Tia. Anytime you two are ready, but please try to make it quick," I tell them.

Tia pulls a spine out and it kind of stings... until I compare it to the feeling of getting eviscerated.

"AUGH!" I scream as blood pours out of my stomach.

"Oh it didn't hurt that bad you big baby—FUCK COLE! TELL ME BEFORE YOU DO THIS SHIT!" Tia shouts as she notices the blood flowing down the counter.

She kicks it into god-speed and pulls the rest of the 39 spines from my ass and legs in less than ten seconds. Tia pushes me down onto my back and grabs a giant wad of gauze to block some of the bleeding.

"Sara! We need you to hurry the hell up!" Tia shouts as I scream, "FUCK! WHY DO MAGICAL INJURIES HURT SO MUCH!?"

"I'm going as fast as I can Tia! And they hurt worse because you don't have the endorphins to help block some of the pain, Cole!" Sara shouts.

After what feels like a small eternity, Sara shouts, "Done!" and I restart Cheza's healing in rapid fashion while inducing further trauma to my guts. My vision fades as I feel her stomach heal fully, allowing me to stop the transfer and turn my healing back on.

"Cole!" Cheza shouts as I hear her jump off of the table. "Oh, Cole..."

...

[May 29th]

I wake up in my bed wearing only my boxers. My clock tells me that it is 12:03am and I hear sounds in the living room. I slip on some shorts and walk out there to find that the sounds are the title screen of the fourth Harry Potter movie playing repeatedly. Natasha, Cheza, and Lila are all asleep on the couch.

I pick up Natasha and carry her to her room. I don't know what the protocol is for taking off a girl-friend-who-is-not-your-girlfriend's pants is so I just close my eyes and pretend it's Cheza. This way if Cheza somehow sees this, I can say I didn't look and pretended it was her—in other words, the truth. I peel down Natasha jeans, tuck her into bed (sorry Natasha but you are just going to have to sleep in your bra because I am not going there), and head back into the living room.

I scoop Cheza up, carry her to her room, and strip her of her shorts, shirt, and bra, before throwing a pajama top on her and tucking her into bed. Now, what do I do about Lila? I'm hardly in any shape to port to Tir na nOg and back. I guess she can sleep in the master bedroom. I think that will be okay and hopefully Aine won't freak out too much. I pick Lila up and take her to Uncle Eric's room. I tuck her into the bed, being careful of her wings as I place her on her back. I leave the door open as I exit the room and walk back to my room, leaving my door wide open. This way, if Lila wakes up in the middle of the night and walks down the hallway, she will be able to see me. I use the bathroom and brush my teeth quickly before taking off the shorts that I put on earlier, climbing into bed, and turning onto my right side to fall asleep.

...

Several hours later, I feel a naked body press itself against my back.

"Cheza, this will have to wait for tomorrow. I'm still really low on blood from before so I'm going back to bed," I mumble as I reach back and pat her hip.

I feel her jump at my touch and hear the sound of feathers rustling off the side of my bed as tears drip across my back.

"Lila? What's wrong!?" I softly but urgently ask as I sit up. She kneels up and throws her arms around me.

"I want to stop feeling like this... I want to forget what he felt like... Please Cole... Please help me forget," Lila quietly sobs as she moves to sit on my lap. I stop her before she can even raise her leg up high enough.

"I'm sorry, Lila... I can't do that," I gently reply as I hug her.

"Why...? Why can't you, Cole?" Lila continues to sob.

What the fuck am I supposed to do? Is there even anything I can do to help her forget all of this?

(Take your switchblade and slice into her neck)

"Shut the fuck up, Airi! Now isn't the time for stupid jokes!"

(And then slice into your own. I'll take over from there)

"...will this help her forget?"

(Trust me)

I pick up my switchblade and flash a small incision into her neck and mine so fast that pain doesn't even register. I feel my blood slip from my neck and go into Lila's bloodstream.

"Cole...? What are you—" Lila asks as her eyelids start to close.

"Shhh, everything is going to be alright. I'm going to fix this," I answer as her eyes close while mine grow heavy. I lie down on my back with Lila on my left side.

"What's... next?" I ask as I feel my consciousness slipping.

(We are going to obliterate her reality)

****

Chapter 26: Does this look as bad as it looks?

I'm floating in a dark space that is reminiscent of the place with the silver door and my Drive. In front of me, a large frame that is approximately the size of a movie theater screen is about twenty feet away. Identical frames popup and expand to the left and right horizons. On each frame is a still image and when I focus on the image in front of me, it starts moving. It's reminiscent of some scene selections for movies where if you highlight the frozen image, it shows you a little clip from that section.

The current frame I'm in front of shows a kidnapping... these are Lila's memories. I move to the right, assuming that the time flow of frames is from left to right, and I stop at a frame that is two down. This frame is of her naked in the dark so I move on to the lit frame that is five down on my right.

I see a tall man with silver, shoulder-length hair that looks almost spikey because of the cowlicks that branch out all over the place. I watch as he moves towards Lila. She tries to fight back, but he just laughs as she watches the scratches heal instantaneously and realizes that her efforts are futile. His eyes light up in insane joy when she stops her efforts and starts sobbing. Those steel-blue eyes stay in that state of insanity as he violates her.

"How do I stop it, Airi? How do I obliterate her reality?"

(It is quite simple. Use what is around your waist)

I look down, and around my waist is some kind of strange silver belt that has a buckle with three horizontal lines on it.

"What is it?"

(Wrap your right hand around it, just to the left of the buckle)

I do as she says and the buckle releases as the belt uncoils and springs out. I see now that I am holding a sword (I think) with a blade that is roughly 2" wide, 1/8" thick and 6' long, ending in three staggered points that remind me of a trident. I look at the pommel that also ends with three staggered points, and I realize that the pommel and tip interlock for the buckle. I notice that there are 24 notches along the blade as I swing the sword a few times, finding that it doesn't wobble at all.

(Now swing it at the frame)

I listen again thinking that this must be some sort of magic wand instead of a sword because the frame is about fifteen feet away. The sword divides at each of the 24 notches into three inch segments. The segments telescopes out twice, tripling the overall length of the blade and the segments start moving independently of each other so that the sword acts like a rigid, bladed, whip. I notice these 3" long by 1/4" wide bladed teeth that swing out of each segment with the momentum of my swing. The sword hits the frame and the tiny blades rip through it as I swing down. The sword retracts back to the hilt like a measuring tape, until it's back to its original 6' blade. I swing over and over as the blade shoots out again and again, tearing the frame to bits.

"This is an interesting sword. It's kind of like a mixture of the Urumi Indian whip-sword, a chainsaw, and a tape measure... Anyway, am I correct in assuming that I can just hack up the other similar frames and they will be erased from Lila's memory with no ill effects?"

(That is correct)

"Well... I'm going to miss you Lila, but it's best if you just forget all about me and this whole shitty kidnapping."

(That will not work)

"What? Why not?"

(Deletion of memories from when Lila was in the basement will be successful because her sense of time was distorted so those memories can be easily deleted without gaps. The only other memory that may be altered is the one of her frantic state this morning, but only the section of the memory where she mentions Fenrir. The rest of it her mind will just naturally fill in)

I get to work finding any frame with Fenrir in it and I use the sword to shred it. I go to the memory from this morning and alter it by removing the section where she describes Fenrir to me. There is no memory of what she was doing before she said my name or of her dream so I don't have to worry about that part, thankfully. I go and delete the events leading up to when I sliced into her neck so that the last thing she remembers is falling asleep on the couch. After I'm sure that I'm done with anything related to Fenrir, I go back through and delete any memory that might feel scarring like the one of her getting her clothes stripped from her or of her getting beaten.

"Alright... that should be it. We just have to make sure to heal her bruises before she awakens"

(Don't worry, this will work and Lila will be none the wiser)

****

I wake up to a blade at my throat, behind which stands Cheza with an expressionless face and glazed over eyes.

(Since Jason is not here, I will say it for him: 'I think she is going for the yandere character!')

Ah, Japan: giving adjectives to qualities that the majority of the world would just call 'being a psychotic bitch,' since... a while.

Now, I may be slow, but I still learn my lessons eventually so the last thing I am going to say is 'Cheza, this isn't what it looks like'...actually, the last thing I am going to say is 'Cheza, this is exactly what it looks like,' so the previous statement is actually the second to last thing I'll say.

"Cheza, everything is not as it seems," I say while trying to sound calm, as though I wasn't just found with a naked thirteen year old girl in my bed.

(*Sigh* Do you really think that rephrasing it will work?)

"Well at least I'm not naked too. Small miracles, right?"

(You are covered from the waist down so that fact is not evident)

"...well fuck."

Cheza responds by digging the knife into my throat.

"At least... give me... a chance... to explain!" I choke out.

"See! I knew you should have felt a little threatened by her!" Natasha says from my doorway that I currently can't see, but zombie Cheza can. When she looks, I move to disarm her, only to discover that something is in my right hand. I lift it out from under the covers.

"NO FREAKIN' WAY! IT'S THE OBLITERATOR!" I shout while naming the awesome weapon that I used to eradicate Lila's rape-related memories.

"I FUCKING LOVE YOU, AIRI!" I add.

(What a coincidence, I love me too)

"Cole?" Lila asks sleepily, propping herself up with one arm while rubbing her eye with the other. You know, just being adorable... naked and adorable...

Shit! I still need to get her dressed and back into Eric's room... especially dressed!

"Shhhh, just go back to sleep," I tell her as I grab the arm that is propping her up and command my blood to put Lila back to sleep, perhaps in slightly too rapid a fashion because she hits my bed like a sack of potatoes.

"Oh Cole, you didn't..." I hear Tia say from my doorway, knowing full well that she is talking about my blood being inside Lila and not... well, what Cheza thinks was inside her.

"Cheza, please remove the knife from Cole's throat and allow him to explain before you slit his throat and/or castrate him," I hear Sara say. Cheza lets up and allows me to sit so I explain the situation.

"So then Lila started to get onto my lap—"

'Explaining in too much detail,' I realize as zombie Cheza takes that as a confession and tackles me to the bed with the blade at my throat.

"But I... stopped her," I choke out and Cheza lets up again.

"I found myself wondering if there was anything I could even do about Lila. Airi told me to slit Lila's neck and then mine and told me to trust her. So I flashed the blade through both our necks and put Lila to sleep. Airi put me to sleep while saying that we were going to obliterate her reality. Then I found myself looking at all these giant, theater-screen sized frames with Lila's memories in them. I went through all of the recent ones searching for Fenrir and any other traumatic events. I used this to rip through the frames and in turn, delete her memories," I say while holding up the Obliterator.

"Did it work?" Natasha asks.

"I hope so, but the chance of it falling apart increases if she gets a huge shock that doesn't correlate with her edited memories, like waking up in my bed naked for instance," I reply.

"Well, her clothes are right there. Let's quickly get her dressed," Sara says while she points to my floor. She walks over and picks the clothes up while Cheza and Natasha move to help dress Lila.

"Cole, what did you mean by 'rip the frames?' That's a sword right?" Tia asks.

"That's the coolest part! Come on, I'll show you downstairs!" I say as I stand up and quickly put on the shorts from last night.

"Oh, and you guys should probably just keep her in my bed so there's an explanation in case she remembers waking up a few minutes ago," I say as I wrap the Obliterator around my waist and lock it.

"I think I'm going to come with you guys!" Sara announces with her tone fluctuating slightly. That's a little bizarre, but whatever. We head downstairs.

"Oh Sara, before I forget, what is the ETA on Cheza's armored jacket so that we don't have a repeat performance of yesterday?" I ask as we reach the basement.

"I was working on it last night while thinking the exact same thing. I still need a few more days, three at most," Sara replies.

"Alright. Well, you guys should definitely stand here while I go waaaaay over there. This thing is similar to an urumi in more ways than just its ability to be worn like a belt," I tell them.

I walk to the other edge of the mat and I turn to face them. I grip the Obliterator to the left of the buckle with my right hand, but nothing happens.

"Huh... that's strange. It opened immediately last ti—" I say, getting interrupted when the blade whips around my waist and extends outward.

I swing it through the air, but it just flies through it like any other 6' sword: pretty slowly. I swing twice more, strengthening the swing each time, but to the same effect.

"Try thinking of it as an extension of yourself, see if that works!" Tia shouts from the bench closest to the door.

I listen to her suggestion and rip the blade horizontally from left to right. This time, I get a result... too much of one because the concrete wall to my right didn't have a two foot crater in it when we came down here. The Obliterator makes the wall explode and sticks into it.

"THAT WAS AWESOME! But last night the blade would retrac—" I say before the blade snaps back to its starting 'blade' position. This thing is like the damn helmet!...the silver helmet, with the silver lotus... silver Urumi, an Indian blade... the Diamond swords that were originally in the form of Indian scimitars...

"Hey Sara, how difficult is it to get a hold of your mom?" I inquire in a tone that is way too serious for me to not follow through now.

"It's pretty difficult. Normally she's the one that calls me. Why?" Sara asks, looking slightly worried for some reason.

"Let me know when she calls you. I need to speak to her about something. Now if you two will excuse me, I feel Lila waking up and I really need to take her home. Aine is probably freaking out enough as it is," I say and walk up the steps as I enhance my hearing.

"Tia! He—" Sara starts to say after I walk into my room, but Tia silences her with a "Shhh!" it looks like Tia has been let in on the secret from last time.

I probably should have asked them about the whole possibility of me being Fenrir's son, but I just can't... I'm too afraid of what the answer might be.

I'll just ask those questions after I possibly commit patricide.

Chapter 27: Cole's evening job

"Cole, why am I in your bed?" Lila sleepily asks. It looks like the memory altering was a success.

"Hey sleepyhead! You fell asleep on the couch watching the movie so I picked you up and brought you in here!" I tell her, going for nonchalance, but once again sounding like I've been in the bathroom snorting coke or some other sort of suspicious activity.

"Oh... thanks..." Lila says while averting her eyes as she blushes.

"No problem, but we really need to get you home now. I should have brought you home last night, but I wasn't in any shape to port there and back," I reply.

"Jeez Cole! Are you the kind of guy that gets a girl into his bed and then doesn't even make her breakfast in the morning!?" Lila teases.

"Next time okay? I promise," I say with a smile.

"Oh, alright. I'll let you off the hook this time!" Lila exclaims as she hops out of my bed.

"Let me just put a shirt on and then I'll port us there. Oh, and we need to grab your clothes from the car," I tell her. I put on a plain white t-shirt and we walk out into the living room.

"Bye Natasha, Chezarei, Sara, and Tia! I'll see you guys again soon!" Lila shouts while she ties her shoes.

I slip my shoes on and open the front door. We walk over to the garage and I grab the bags out of the unlocked back. I pick Lila up and put her on my shoulders so that I can hold all the bags and still have the ability to port us.

"Hold on tight okay? Last time I did this, I ended up thirty feet above the ground," I inform her and she wraps her arms around my head. I reach over my shoulder and touch the symbol while thinking of Tir na nOg, but nothing happens. I reach through my shirt collar and try again. This time is a success as the feeling of falling hits me, but thankfully it's only the feeling this time. I also notice that the feeling is greatly diminished compared to when someone else is doing the porting.

"Alright, which way is your house?" I ask.

"I don't know. I've never walked there before," Lila answers.

"Well then, let's give this a shot. Hold on tight," I say to Lila as I reach back and touch my triskele.

We arrive in the foyer of Aine's house.

"Mom is probably eating breakfast in the dining room," Lila says.

"Which way?" I ask.

"That way, Minion!" she replies as she points to the right.

We walk down a corridor and through an archway where I see a 16-person table with Aine sitting at the head of it. She looks at us as we walk in.

"Hello sweetie, did you have fun?" Aine asks. I pick Lila up off of my shoulders, and set her on the ground.

"Yeah, I did! We went to the mall and Cole bought me clothes and then we went and got Chinese food and then Cole took me to a pet store and I got to hold a chinchilla! It was suuuuper soft! And then we went back to the house and I watched movies with Natasha and Chezarei while Cole slept. I'm going to go change into some of my new clothes and then I'll come back to show you!" Lila exclaims without taking a breath and then she runs off after I hand her the bags.

"Sorry... I meant to bring her home last night, but several events left me in no shape to port..." I tell Aine while being unable to meet her gaze.

"Say no more. I trust you, Cole. I wasn't worried about her because I knew you would protect her," Aine says.

"Thank you, Aine. That means a lot," I reply, smiling at her because it really does mean a lot to me that she can trust me to even be near her daughter after she watched me peel a man's skin off.

"Listen, I'm throwing a surprise birthday party for Lila on the first, this Saturday, and I'm positive that she'd love it if you came. It is going to start at 3pm and it will go on for quite some time. Don't worry about bringing a gift since you already bought her all those clothes," Aine whispers to me.

"Is it alright if I bring two friends?" I ask and Aine smiles at me.

"Yes, you can bring your girlfriends," she replies.

"While they are both girls, only one is my sort-of girlfriend!" I exclaim and Aine giggles in response.

"One last thing: Don't bring up the whole rape thing with Lila and make sure no one else does," I whisper.

"Cole, it isn't healthy for her to keep something like that bottled up," Aine replies.

"Aine, I... hypnotized... Lila last night and it was successful. As far as she knows right now, she was never raped. I deleted every trauma from her experience beside the cage, being naked, and the actual kidnapping. I left those because they were the least invasive and if I changed too many things, the entire thing would have unraveled," I explain.

"What? How in the world did you do that?" Aine asks curiously.

"I won't go into details, but I'll just say that some of my blood is in Lila," I say.

"WHAT!?" Aine whispers. That was a stupid idea. Of course she'd be worried. Aine has only ever seen me use my power to destroy.

"Aine... last night, Lila... she came into my bed, naked and crying. She... begged me... to have sex with her... to help her forget what... he felt like," I say while choking up as tears roll down Aine's face.

"I didn't know what to do so I made a flash incision into my neck and into her so that I could put her to sleep. As I did that, my blood called out to me and told me that there was a way for me to take all of her pain and obliterate it. I couldn't think of a better solution so I listened to that call and put myself to sleep next to her. I found myself in Lila's psyche, looking at her memories as though they were a scrap book. I saw what Fenrir... _did_ to her so I know that I made the right call," Aine throws her arms around me.

"Thank you, Cole... Thank you for helping her. Dagda was right when he told me to trust you—that you could help her in a way that we never would be able to. Thank you," Aine says into my chest.

"AINE! AINE! ARE YOU IN IT!? ARE YOU AL'IGHT?" I hear Dagda shout as he rushes into the room with a club, followed by Brighid and Manannan mac Lir who are armed with a sword and a spear, respectively.

"Whoa, Dagda where's the fire!?" I ask while Aine says, "Yes Dagda, I'm just fine."

"Okay... now I'm confused. I felt two people port to the gate and I thought it was Cole and Lila, but then I felt them port here so I got worried," Dagda explains.

"Yeah, that was me. Lila didn't know how to get here by foot and neither did I, so I thought of the foyer and touched the triskele, porting us here. Is that strange?" I ask.

"It is strange, boyo. Only the Tuatha De Danann should be able to port inside Tir na nOg. No one that has received the brand has been able to do that... is it because of your blood?" Dagda absentmindedly asks while resting his hand on his chin.

"Hmm... Cole, try to change your clothes. Just imagine what you want and then touch the triskele," Dagda requests.

I think Dagda is implying that I may have the same level of control over Tir na nOg as the Tuatha De... that gives me a fun idea. I imagine a new outfit for myself, as well as a new one for Brighid, and I touch my brand. I suddenly find myself wearing a new black t-shirt that has BRIGHID'S PIMP stenciled on the chest, a grey fur jacket that reaches my ankles, a grey fedora, and a diamond topped cane to complete the outfit.

"Well, I'll be damned. I've never seen anythin' like this," Dagda says and I start to chuckle slightly as I see that my edits to Brighid's outfit were a success. She is now wearing booty shorts and a low cut shirt that reads COLE'S HOE.

"AH!" Brighid yelps while she jumps up because Lila grabbed her ass. Brighid turns to glare at her.

"What? Your shirt says one free sample!" Lila exclaims as Brighid turns in a circle, flashing everyone the back of the shirt that reads

ONE FREE ASS GRABBING SAMPLE

SEE COLE FOR OTHER RATES

I can no longer contain myself as I hit the floor, gasping for breath. Lila totally just _made_ that joke.

"HAHA HA HA... HAHAHA... HA Ahem... ha... whew... Okay. I'm good, I'm good... to be fair, I still have three wardrobe changes to put you through until we're even. Thanks for the assist, Lila!" I exclaim before standing.

"Okay... I'll admit it. You got me pretty good," Brighid reconciles as she snaps her fingers and changes both our clothes back.

"Boyo, let's port to the usual trainin' grounds. I want to see somethin'," Dagda says as he snaps his fingers and the three of them disappear.

"Alright, Lila. I need to get going now," I tell her.

"...You'll come again, right?" Lila asks as she pouts. I'm pretty sure that the wings act as an amplifier for this girl's cuteness.

"Of course I will! I'll stop by here before training tomorrow!" I answer with a smile as I kneel to the floor in anticipation for what's coming next. Lila runs up to me and... stops?

"It's not good to presume things, Cole!" Lila taunts as she turns around. I sit there bewildered for a moment before Lila turns back, runs, and jumps into a hug.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" Lila exclaims into my ear before disengaging from my neck.

"Yeah!" I reply with a smile before touching the triskele and porting to the big open field.

"Alright, now try to create an illusion like I did yesterday," Dagda says from behind me.

I imagine two dozen werewolves like the ones that led the attack yesterday. I make them all like flesh mannequins to ensure that I won't freak out the others with the screams. I whip out the Obliterator on the first try this time and make a quick slash to the right, ripping through six targets before the Obliterator gets stuck in a spine and retracts, dragging the werewolf with it. I kick the werewolf off of it before wrapping the Obliterator around my waist, touching my triskele, and disengaging the illusion.

"What is that?" Manannan mac Lir asks in a gruff pitch as he stares at the Obliterator with curiosity.

"I call it the Obliterator. It's like a mixture of an urumi whip-sword, a tape measure, and a chainsaw," I reply.

"How does it handle like that?" he asks.

"I'm not too sure. I think it's made from my blood, but all I know for certain is that I used it in a dream and when I woke up, it was in my hand. Oh, speaking of which, make sure nobody says anything about the rape to Lila. I was able to destroy her memories of it so as far as she knows, it never happened. All she remembers is that she was kidnapped and locked in a cage in the dark," I say.

"Alright lad. I'm goin' to be busy today so you can use the illusions to train. Tomorrow, I should be able to help you," Dagda responds.

"That's fine. I'm actually low on blood so I'm not going to be able to train much today anyway. One question though, can I be killed by my illusions?" I ask.

"You can't, you'll just be knocked unconscious and the illusion will disperse. Oh, and as a warning, don't try to port any distance less than a hundred meters," Dagda replies.

"Why? What happens?" I inquire.

"I don't know, but word has it that it can rip gods in half," Dagda warns.

"Alright, I'll be careful. If I really needed to port a distance of less than one hundred meters, couldn't I just port someplace else and then port to where I needed to go?" I question.

"That you could, lad, so long as you stay in Tir na nOg, you can port as frequently as you want. However, if you wanted to port from Ireland, to Tir na nOg, and then to your house, you would have to wait a minute, though I'm not too sure why," Dagda explains

"I'll keep that in mind. Well, I'm heading back to my house now. I still haven't eaten breakfast. See you later!" I reply as I touch my triskele and port home.

I walk through the front door to the delicious smell of bacon and pancakes. I go into the kitchen and gorge myself on them with all of the girls.

"Hey Natasha, are you free this Saturday?" I ask after I finish eating.

"Yeah, I am. What's up?" she asks.

"Do you want to go to a party in Tir na nOg?" I inquire as I hear Cheza's fork clatter onto her plate.

"Why yes, I would love to accompany you to a party! What is the dress?" Natasha inquires. I think she's realized that I'm just doing this to get a little payback on Cheza.

"Great! Just wear a short skirt and a low cut t-shirt. You can wear panties, but you won't really be needing them," I say.

Cheza quickly stands with tears in her eyes, and storms around the table to where I'm sitting. She tries smack me, but I catch her by the wrist and pull her into my lap while pressing my lips to hers.

"It should be implied that you are coming too, Cheza! I just wanted to get a little payback for this morning," I tell a stunned Cheza. I don't think things went the way she had imagined they would go.

"Oh and the dress is casual, Natasha. It's Lila's surprise birthday party. Sara, Tia, would you guys like to go as well?" I ask.

"No thanks, you guys go have fun!" Sara says.

"Same goes for me. Come on Cheza, we have training now," Tia replies.

"Alright. Cole, could you come with me to my room for a minute?" Cheza asks as she gets off of my lap, grabs my hand, and pulls me with her to her room.

"Cole, as thanks for last night and for the Synergistic blades, I will do any one thing that you ask..." Cheza says, trailing off as she presses up against me. I think she is implying that she would like the favor to be of a sexual nature.

"Thanks, Cheza. I'll hold on to this for now. Now, you have training and so do I," I reply, leaving Cheza looking slightly disappointed.

I go to my room, grab my new holster with a Diamond sword, and port to Tir na nOg. I spend the majority of the day dodging or deflecting arrows with illusions and the rest of it practicing with the Obliterator. This weapon is extremely difficult to use. Getting the timing just right for the momentum to be sufficient enough to actually slash through multiple opponents is giving me loads of trouble. I work for a couple of hours trying to get it right, only to have a 50/50 chance by the end. I port home at about 5pm. After I eat, I head to my room and finally make two black sheaths for the Diamond swords before falling asleep.

...

Chapter 28: For heroin, what does it matter?

[May 30th]

I wake up, get ready, and port through the gate to Aine's foyer.

"Cole! Come join us for breakfast!" Lila shouts when she sees me.

"Sure, that sounds nice," I say and take a seat. We eat and make small talk while I wait until Lila leaves to ask Aine my question.

"Aine, how do you feel about pets?" I whisper to her.

"I'm fine with you giving Lila a chinchilla for her birthday, if you want to," Aine says with a smile.

"Alright then, I think Lila is in for a surprise!" I reply and sit back down to wait for Lila.

"Well, I need to get going, Lila. I won't be able to stop by tomorrow, but I promise that I will come say hi at some point on Saturday, alright?" I tell her.

"Okay Cole, I'll see you later!" Lila exclaims and waves as I port to my training field.

I repeat the regimen from yesterday while increasing the number of archers. I can tell that I'm getting faster, but I'm still nowhere near the speed I was at when I was angry. I guess that's because my blood was _running_ hot then... har har. A whistling sound behind me attracts my attention. I swing the Diamond sword around my back in time to deflect a small rock.

"HA HA! Well done, boyo. You're gettin' faster!" Dagda exclaims as I dissolve the illusion.

"Dagda, nice timing. I have a question for you. I'm going to give Lila a chinchilla for her birthday, but I'm wondering what kind of animals are around here and if they would eat it," I say.

"Well, I'd say that there's a chance. Chinchillas are similar to rabbits, yeah? The animals will eat anythin' but the fairies... and humans, probably. There aren't any around so I'm not sure," Dagda replies.

"Thanks Dagda. That just gave me an idea. Alright, let's start!" I proclaim.

I spend the next few hours getting my ass handed to me by Dagda and then I go home again at five.

"Welcome home, Cole. Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes," Sara says as I walk into the house.

"Cool, I'm going to go take a quick shower then," I reply as I slip off my shoes and walk down the hall towards my room.

I take my shower and head out for dinner.

"So how goes your training Cheza?" I ask during dinner.

"Not very well..." she replies, slightly downtrodden.

"Her control is still pretty lousy so we aren't able to spar," Tia comments.

"Cheer up, Cheza. I'm sure you will get it eventually!" I cheerfully exclaim.

Cheza responds with a nod that is much less than cheerful. After dinner I head to my room and get ready for bed.

"Hey Airi, will the plan I thought of earlier work? Injecting my blood into the chinchilla?"

(Who do I look like, Steve Irwin?...Too soon? It's highly doubtful that it will change the scent of the animal, but it will allow you to override its instincts so that it will believe Lila is its mother and thus, won't run away from her)

"That will work. I'll go buy an insulin syringe at a pharmacy tomorrow."

I read for a while and then I listen carefully to the house. I hear that Cheza, Natasha, and Sara are all asleep, but the sound of a page turning indicates that Tia is still awake. I get out of bed, walk to her room, and softly knock once before entering.

"Hey Tia, we need to talk," I tell her as I close her door behind me. Tia is in bed reading while dressed in such skimpy nightwear that she may as well just not wear anything at all.

"Sure, what's up?" Tia responds.

"Tell me what you know," I say with an uninflected tone.

"What do you mean?" Tia asks, looking slightly nervous.

"I know that you're in on Sara's secret about me," I reveal with a stern look.

"I'm really not supposed to say anything..." Tia says while avoiding my gaze.

"Tell me," I reply.

"I can't," Tia responds while struggling not to say something stupid.

"Tell me," I repeat as Sara comes in through the door.

"My mother told me that someone from the Supreme Tier had manipulated you before you were born. They are most likely responsible for your blood control as well as your increased strength and speed because of it. The bracelet that is on your wrist has Kali's yantra, her godly symbol, on it so my guess is that she is the one responsible," Sara explains.

"What, but I'm not a demigod or anything so how is that possible?" I say.

"That's true, you aren't a demigod, but I didn't say that one of your parents is a god. I said that they manipulated you before your birth, when you were in your mother's womb. My mother told me that a time will come when they will explain things to you, so just be patient. Now, let's all go to bed," Sara says and I head back to my room.

The revelation is quite a shock, but worrying about it isn't going to change the amount I don't know. I'll just have to trust what Sara said and wait until Kali contacts me. Given that she's a heavy hitter in Hinduism as the goddess of time, change, and destruction, this should be interesting.

...

[May 31st]

Dagda meets me at the gate at 9am and proceeds to kick my ass around until nightfall.

"You're gettin' faster, lad. You're goin' at about half o' the speed I can, but it isn't enough yet. I'll see you tomorrow at Lila's party," Dagda says and I port home for dinner.

"I'm going to the store. I'll be back in a little while," I announce as I grab the car keys after dinner.

I walk out the front door and head towards the garage when an idea pops into my head: why don't I try porting there? I can port within Tir na nOg so why not here too? I think of the CVS on Indian School Road and touch the triskele. I look at the mostly vacant parking lot that is suddenly around me and realize that I can port in this world as well. I walk into the CVS and head towards the back to the pharmacy counter.

"Good evening. I need an insulin syringe please," I ask. The tired looking woman turns around, grabs a pack, and sets them on the counter.

"Alright, it will be $3.74 and I'll need to see your ID," She says.

I pull out my ID and set it on the counter. As I pull out a five dollar bill, she starts writing down the info from my ID down on a sheet of paper.

"Why do you need to write down my information?" I ask.

"Why do you need the syringes!?" she asks accusingly.

"FOR HEROIN! WHAT DOES IT MATTER!?" I shout.

"WELL THEN YOU CAN JUST FUCKING LEAVE, YOU ASSHAT!" she screams.

"You're the one that started with the asshattery, madam!" I exclaim.

I snatch my ID from her hand, grab the syringes, and drop the five on the counter at a speed that should be barely comprehensible. It's stupid that I'm getting all this hassle when they had dispensaries in parks when AIDS was still relevant.

"This is why I normally shop at Walgreens!" I announce and step back about ten feet as she picks up the phone.

"KEEP THE CHANGE! OH, AND THE REAL REASON I BOUGHT THESE SYRINGES IS SO THAT I COULD INJECT MY BLOOD INTO A CHINCHILLA!" I shout as I flip her off and touch my triskele while thinking of home.

I really wish I could see her face right now, but I can guess that she is probably freaking the fuck out. I walk in the front door while chuckling slightly.

"What's so funny?" Natasha asks from the couch. I open my mouth to tell her, but then I close it.

"I'm apologizing in advance for what you may get a call about on Monday..." I say as I walk to my room.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Natasha frantically shouts as I close my bedroom door.

Today has been a long day, but tomorrow should be fun.

...

Chapter 29: So that's why they can jump so high!

[June 1st]

"Cole, what time do we have to leave?" Cheza asks me at lunch.

"Well, it starts at 3pm so... 2:55pm?" I reply.

"Our time, or theirs?" Cheza asks.

"There isn't any time change," I answer.

"What? How is that possible?" Cheza inquires.

"When you pass through the gates to other worlds, you're basically punching a time card and then the gate advances time automatically, time that you get back when you pass back through the gate. That way, everyone is on the same time," Tia answers.

"Well, I need to go pick up Lila's present so I'll be back in about two hours and then we will leave," I announce.

"What? So when Cole goes to Tir na nOg, he's jumping through time? But we talked to each other when he was in Tir na nOg the other day!" Cheza expounds, completely ignoring me.

"The only thing I can guess is that the connection was also delayed through the gate. I'm not really sure how it works, no one does. What I said was just the current theory that the Egyptian god of knowledge, Thoth, came up with," Tia explains.

"What? Didn't the gods create them? Oh, and bye Cole," Cheza says in passing.

"Some gods have enough power to create their own worlds, but as far as I know, all the major ones have always been there," Tia says.

I grab the keys and drive all the way to the pet store (because I don't want the possibility of causing another incident for Natasha) only to find out that they aren't open. What kind of pet store isn't open on the weekends? I head back home to find the girls ready and waiting.

"What happened to the gift?" Cheza asks.

"The store was closed for some reason. Anyway, let's get going. Just, uh... grab onto my arm, I guess?" I tell them and hold my arm out.

Cheza and Natasha hold my left arm as I reach back and touch my triskele with my free hand. I port us to Tir na nOg and then to Aine's foyer when I realize something. If the store is closed, then I'll just go catch one! If I remember right, chinchillas are from the Andes.

"Hey, you guys go on ahead. I just realized another place that I can get Lila's present so I should be back within an hour," I say.

"Alright, don't take too long or Lila will be upset!" Natasha exclaims.

"Well, I wouldn't want to make the birthday girl sad so I'll be back soon!" I reply before porting to the gate and then back home.

I take out my phone and search Wikipedia for information on chinchillas as I run inside and grab the syringes. The page informs me that chinchillas have been seen in Machu Picchu and that chinchillas are nocturnal, which is just one more instinct that I'll rewrite. I check a world clock and see that it is already 7pm in Peru—perfect! I hope my helmet can still do that night vision thing. I find a picture of Machu Picchu and touch my triskele, hoping that porting can work like this.

"I feel like Christian Bale!" I shout in a giddy fashion when I see that I'm on Machu Picchu.

"No wait, Christian Bale is Batman. I feel like... uhhh... what's his name? He plays the father of those slightly incestuous twins in the prequel trilogy where he bangs Natalie Portman... Hayden Christensen! I swear, if I end up catching my kids making out or something worse, I'm going to go through this little 'Jason' moment all over again!" I exclaim to a stunned tourist couple that is camping. "I'm making a _Jumper_ reference... it's okay if you didn't see it, it wasn't very good. Now I'm off to find a chinchilla!"

I flip my helmet on and I start running around Machu Picchu looking for a chinchilla. It takes me roughly half of an hour, but I find small herd of them, maybe eleven.

(You may wish to make a cage first)

"Right... probably going to need one of those."

I pull out my switchblade and cut my left arm open. I swipe my right hand across it and proceed to make the handle form in my right hand, imagining a wire cage forming under it. _(4.8 Liters)_

(Now catch the youngest one. This one's instincts will be easiest to override and I should be able to manage it without you falling unconscious)

I chase after the herd, aiming for the smallest one I can find, but damn are they fast! And they keep jumping on top of walls and stuff to evade me! It takes me fifteen minutes before I can catch the little bugger and stuff him in the cage (after identifying him as male). I set the cage on a rock, pull out a syringe, take the cap off, and stick the cap and the other syringes back in my pocket. I withdraw 1cc of blood from my neck (because it's the only vein I can reach with both hands without taking off my pants) and I inject it into the chinchilla.

"Alright! Now I just need to get you to Li—" I say aloud before I'm interrupted by some of the ground slipping out from underneath me as I tumble backwards down the slope of a cliff. Thankfully, Airi engages my helmet so I won't crack my skull open like a melon. The bad news is that I am still falling off of a cliff and I'm pretty sure I just felt my leg breaking.

...

I wake up at the bottom of the cliff some time later. I pull out my phone and see that it is already 7:43pm back home.

"COLE! Are you alright!? Where are you!? I've been worried sick!" Cheza screams in my mind.

"Sorry Cheza, I had a minor accident. I'll be there in a second," I reply.

I quickly climb to the top of the cliff, grab the cage with my left hand (while realizing how lucky I am that a bird or something didn't take off with it) and touch my triskele with my right. I arrive at the gate and port to Aine's foyer, but the only noise I hear is coming from outside. My left arm is starting to hurt so I grab the cage with my right hand as I walk out the front door. I see a rather large table set up with Lila at the head, a campfire off to the right, and a full bar to the left, along with a band. Natasha is by the bar with Cheza, who is angrily glaring at me until her eyes widen for some reason.

"Hey everybody, sorry I'm so late! I, uh... tripped up a bit... or down," I announce to the group of around seventy people, mostly adults, as I walk down the marble staircase. I ignore the stares and a gasp as I walk up to Lila.

"Happy birthday, Lila! This is your present!" I say as I hold up the cage with the brown and grey chinchilla inside. "He will get bigger than the ones that were at the pet store—roughly the same size as those puppies," Lila and her friends are staring wide-eyed and then I realize what I've forgotten.

"Oh sorry, I guess I forgot to take this off," I say as the helmet retracts and my voice returns to normal. It sort of worries me that I didn't notice the helmet was on.

"COLE, WHAT IN THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU!?" Lila shrieks.

"What do you mean?" I ask, perplexed.

"COLE! LOOK AT YOUR FUCKING ARM!" Natasha shouts from behind me. I look at my left arm and see that both my radius and my ulna are sticking out of the skin at my elbow.

"Whoa... Excuse me for a second," I say as I set the cage on the table and then I walk around the left side of the large white house.

"Airi, what's going on?"

(I was preoccupied with fixing your shattered femur earlier. Also, the bone is protruding too far for me to heal it as is. You must reset the bone)

"I was afraid you were going to say that."

I put the bone against the side of the house and I ram the entire left side of my body against the wall. I get the effect I was looking for as my vision blurs for a moment upon hearing a sickening crunch. The sound was loud enough to get a large portion of the party to go "Ooh..."

"Alright, I really, really need a drink. Like, the strongest one there is," I say after walking back to the party.

"Aye lad, here you go. We were just about to have a toast!" Dagda says while handing me a champagne glass with some kind of bubbly pink liquid that almost seems to glow. "To Lila, Happy birthday!"

"CHEERS!" The partygoers exclaim and everyone takes a drink, or a chug in my case.

"HA HA HA! We've got one more, boyo!" Dagda exclaims as a waiter comes over with another glass. "And lastly, to Cole, the newest member o' the Tuatha De Danann!"

"CHEERS" I shout and chug the glass before choking on the last bit as what Dagda said sets in.

"Did you just say that I'm a member of the Tuatha De Danann?" I ask, confounded as the party restarts.

"I did!" Dagda answers.

"Well alright then! So long as I can have more of whatever was in these glasses! This stuff is fantastic! Natasha, Cheza! You both need to try this stuff, like now! GARCON! Please get those two ladies over there a couple of drinks!" I exclaim.

"That's a special fairy brew. Very few humans have ever had it," He informs me.

"Well it is fantastic! Thanks! Now I should probably go mingle a bit!" I reply and walk off.

I'm not stumbling quite yet, but the night has only just begun. I talk to a few people before I make my way over to Lila and her friends.

"Hey Lila, how are you enjoying your party?" I ask.

"It is far more amusing now that you're here, Cole," Lila says with a smile as she stands out of her chair and gives me a hug. "I love my present!"

"Why don't you take him out? This little guy is special so you shouldn't have to worry about him running away," I tell her.

"I can!?" she asks excitedly.

I take the chinchilla out of the cage and hand him to her. Lila holds him to her chest and he nuzzles in before falling asleep. All three girls just look at him and go "Aww!"

"I'm going to name him Colton! Oh, Cole, these are my friends: Aimee and Megan," Lila says while gesturing to each of them.

I notice that both the blonde and brunette are quite a bit taller than Lila and they actually look fourteen. Maybe being short is only a Peri thing.

"It is nice to meet you, ladies," I say with a slight head nod.

"It's nice to meet you too Cole! We've heard a lot about you!" The blonde, Aimee, says.

"Like a lot, a lot! Lila never shuts up about you!" The curly haired brunette, Megan, says.

"YOU GUYS!" Lila squeals as the girls giggle.

"Don't worry, Lila. It's not like it's a secret or anything!" I tell her.

"IT'S NOT!?" Lila shrieks, reaching dolphin decibels.

"Of course not! I'm not that imperceptive, Lila!" I reply.

"Wow, this is embarrassing..." Lila quietly says while petting Colton.

"I mean, I know I'm awesome! It's only natural that you'd want to talk about me!" I exclaim and Lila's friends giggle. "Alright, well I'm going to go chat with people!"

"Okay, I'll see you later Cole! Oh, and congrats on becoming a god!" Lila exclaims.

"Becoming a god? Please Lila, I have always been a god among men haha!" I heartily respond and walk off.

"How can you trust someone like that around Lila?" I overhear a fairy woman ask Aine from across the yard.

"Cole brought Lila back to me, and from what I've heard, he took three swords in the chest doing so. Not to mention how he protected Lila from Dagda's soldiers when he was under the impression that they were trying to hurt her. I trust Cole implicitly," Aine replies.

"I still wouldn't trust him around Aimee..." the woman says as I stop listening.

I mingle for a little while, trying to show everyone that the newest member of the Tuatha De Danann doesn't torture people on a regular... _daily_ basis. Hopefully this will improve the public opinion of me a little.

"So how does it feel becoming part of the Tuatha De?" Brighid asks after approaching me from behind.

"I'm not really sure... I don't think it's sunk in quite yet," I reply.

"Don't worry, it's not like you have any responsibilities or anything. You're just kind of being a place holder for the god of love and youth. I mean, you fit the youth part perfectly!" Brighid teases.

"Hey!...How did this happen anyway?" I ask.

"Well, the other day, after the demonstration of your ability, my father called a meeting. All of the Tuatha De voted and the majority decided to vote you in since you already have most of the power that we have and there was a vacancy anyway," Brighid explains.

"I see. I was kind of wondering what had made Dagda bail on our training on Wednesday," I say.

"Well, I'm going to socialize more and try to get people to feel a little less uneasy around me," I tell her.

"Sorry Cole, but that probably won't happen. You are a pretty intimidating guy, to gods and mortals alike. Hell, even I'd be scared of you if I hadn't learned so much from your response to my practical joke. I know you aren't a quick tempered person that goes around torturing people for enjoyment, but that is currently your image to most," Brighid blatantly explains.

"Yeah, I know... but it's better than doing nothing at all. I'll see you later, Brighid," I reply as I leave.

I walk around the party some more before I go to check on Natasha and Cheza.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I ask as I sit down next to them.

"Not much. You were right, by the way. These drinks are totally awesome!" Natasha drunkenly exclaims.

"I know, right? So are you two having fun?" I inquire.

"Yeah, we were getting hit on earlier though. It was interesting, we told them that we were lesbians and that got them to back off for a while, but then they came back. Then we just dropped your name and they all scattered like flies!" Cheza exclaims.

"Well I'm glad that everyone's extreme fear of me can be good for something..." I reply, somewhat demoralized.

"Cole... I didn't..." Cheza starts.

"Let's drink!" Natasha exclaims.

"That is a fantastic suggestion!" I respond.

The party disperses by 10pm except for about eight people, including Natasha, Cheza, and myself, that head over to the fire. Natasha and Cheza both seem pretty hammered. I see Lila asleep with her new friend so I pick them up, carry them into the house, and put them in Lila's bed. After walking back outside, I head over to the bar where I grab two more drinks from the server and down one on the spot. I stumble over to the camp fire where I see Cheza and Natasha making out with each other. I sit down beside Natasha and Cheza.

"Well, he sure fell into his godly role quickly," I hear Brighid say in my final memory of the night.

...

Chapter 30: The Kitten, The Maid, and The Mile High Club

[June 2nd]

"Ugh... why does the sun have to be so bright?" I groan as I wake up with a major hangover.

I look over to my left and see Cheza sleeping soundly, naked except for a pair of white cat ears on her head. I also see a mysterious red mark on her left ass cheek: is that a ping pong paddle? The item in my left hand tells me that the mark on Cheza's ass is, in fact, a ping pong paddle. I feel something else in my right hand so I look over to investigate, only to see a head of blonde hair...

"Airi... what has been going on with me?"

(Some serious shit! But Jesus man, it's good to see you!)

"You're saying that last night I, as a high school senior about to graduate, met a porn star, fell in love, had $25,000 stolen from me by Timothy Olyphant, and had to replace the money by making a sexual education video in my high school on prom night?"

(No...)

"I took two hits of ecstasy last night after being told that they were aspirin and then I had to give a speech?"

(Close... you ended up using your power in Tir na nOg to change Cheza and Natasha's clothing into a 'sex kitten,' I believe is what you referred to it as, for Cheza and a 'naughty Swiss maid' for Natasha. Then you ported both of the girls back here after bringing two ping pong paddles into existence. There's more, but it will be more amusing if I let you deduce it from the clues you have left around the room)

I sit up slowly so that I don't wake up the girls before I figure this out. Looking around my room, I notice that there is chocolate syrup on the walls and the sheets in some interesting patterns resembling two different sizes of infinity signs. There is also an empty jar of peanut butter on my nightstand.

"Chocolate and peanut butter?"

(I recall you asking why Reese's hadn't made kittens, after you created one. Then you ate your creation, much to Cheza's delight)

I continue to look around my room and I notice something very important missing: there are no condoms anywhere.

"Airi... please tell me that I somehow didn't finish the race at all last night!"

(Okay... but you did)

"Fuck... maybe Tia foresaw this kind of event and already bought morning after pills?"

(Don't fret. You only finished with Cheza)

"Really!? That's... well, it's not great news, but at least it could be worse! I could've finished with Natasha too."

(You did)

"WHAT!?"

(How can I put this lightly... you were driving Natasha's car from the rear seat)

Great, there go two first experiences that I won't remember. I look at the floor, seeing the remains of Natasha's maid costume and the rest of Cheza's costume... is that a tail? Oh, don't tell me...

"Airi, is that tail from Cheza's kitten outfit?"

(Correct)

"Why does it have bea—"

_(BOOP and ZINGGGGG)_

"Oh gods... did she... seem to enjoy it?"

(HAHAHAHA)

"Yeah, yeah, just laugh it up!" I say aloud.

"Cole? What are you doing in my bed?" Natasha asks from my right side.

"Good morning, Natasha! You are actually in my bed, not the other way around. Say, what do you remember from last night?" I ask.

"Ugh, not so loud! My head is pounding and—why am I naked?" Natasha says and then she gasps. "Cole! Did you have sex with me while I was unconscious!? What about Chezarei!?"

"Relax! Cheza is right here!" I tell her while pointing to my left, not sure if that actually helps the situation. "But we did have sex. As for the unconscious part..."

(No)

"Airi tells me that you were conscious. See, I don't remember anything about last night past watching you and Cheza make out by the campfire," I explain.

"Ugh, it's like my freshman year all over again!" Natasha exclaims. If I assume that she means her freshman year of college then she is probably around twenty-three years old.

"Cole? Um, why does my ass hurt?" Natasha asks

"Yeah, mine... um, does too," Cheza adds, revealing her consciousness. I immediately start panicking. "Don't worry, Cole. Airi already explained how you can't remember anything either so as far as I'm concerned, it's fine... but only because I was here too. So why do our asses hurt?"

"Umm... wow this is awkward. Cheza, if you look at the tail on the ground right there, that's your answer. Natasha, Airi told me that we did it slightly differently," I inform them.

"Cole? Why does this tail have beads? Oh... I meant my cheek..." Cheza says looking a tad embarrassed. "Did I like it?"

"Uh... well, the answer to your original question is probably because of this ping pong paddle. As for your second question, Airi just laughed at me when I asked her..." I reply.

This is turning out to be my most awkward conversation to date, even more awkward than the conversation I had with Jason when I had to talk him through how to get his dick unstuck from a vacuum cleaner when we were fifteen. At least that conversation had been over the phone.

"Thank you, Airi," Cheza quietly say while her face is still flushed.

I would ask her, but she'll be too embarrassed to respond and I'll find out eventually anyway. Natasha looks much less embarrassed by this situation than Cheza is.

"Well, I think we should all get in the shower! You two are probably covered in chocolate and/or peanut butter. Some more... _extensive_ cleaning may be necessary in your case Cheza," I abashedly suggest.

(That will not be necessary. You were very thorough)

"Thank you, Airi!" I sarcastically exclaim.

"Never mind, apparently I was very thorough last night," I say, sounding slightly hysterical.

"Well I'm not sure about you, Chezarei, but I could go for a round two that I will actually remember!" Natasha exclaims.

"I was talking about strictly wash—" I start.

"YOU WILL HAVE TO HOLD OFF ON THE SHOWER SEX, GANG! YOUR JET LEAVES IN AN HOUR!" Tia shouts as she bursts through my door.

"Tia... I have never before been so close to murdering you, not even the time when I was swinging the Sic blade down at your neck. If you do not lower your voice, I will not be responsible for my actions," I reply with an uninflected tone.

"Wow... this room is a mess! I heard you guys having fun in here last night, and I totally knew that you were a mini me, Natasha! I've heard of using chocolate before, but what's with the peanut butter?" Tia asks.

"I made a chocolate peanut butter kitten... with Cheza being the kitten... and then I ate it," I say while trying to stave off my headache.

"I'm proud of you, Cole. That is really kinky! Anyway, you guys have a flight to Greenland in an hour so hurry up and get ready. That means you too, Natasha!" Tia exclaims while exiting my room.

I stand up and get clothes out of my dresser before I notice the girls whispering at each other with mischievous smiles on their faces. When they notice me looking at them, they just nod at each other, stand up, and leave my room. I am slightly concerned by their actions and by what they could be scheming.

I quickly shower and get ready. I pack my toiletry bag and luggage before I head to the kitchen. I see that Sara has made eggs and bacon—too bad I feel too nauseated to eat... wait a second, shouldn't I be able to bypass a hangover because of my healing ability?

(Yes, but if I were to do that then how would you learn the consequences of over imbibition?)

"Can you please fix it, Airi?"

(...Drink a glass of orange juice and I'll handle the rest)

"You're the best, Airi!"

I drink my glass of orange juice and eat a couple strips of bacon. As I'm eating, Tia comes in and hands me a black and orange, handheld GPS unit.

"When you get to Greenland, go to the coordinates that are set on the GPS. Cheza should be able to learn control much more easily there. Be careful while you are there, Cole. Greenland is very close to Iceland and Iceland is considered enemy territory," Tia warns me.

"Thanks, Tia. I'll make sure to keep them safe. I'll find Jason's next clue, or Jason if he is actually there, and bring everyone back," I reply.

"I know you will, Cole," Tia softly says with a smile before she wraps her arms around me. "I just want you to be safe, so don't go anywhere without being fully armed. That means I want you to be strapped and wearing your jacket from the second you walk off of the plane. And make sure you keep an eye on rooftops."

"Alright, Tia. I promise I'll be careful," I reassure her. She must be worried that I'll wind up like Uncle Eric.

"HURRY UP YOU TWO! WE NEED TO LEAVE SOON!" Sara shouts.

"Oh shit! Sara, what about Cheza's jacket!?" I frantically ask.

"Relax, Cole. I gave it to her yesterday," Sara informs me.

"Thanks Sara, you're awesome!" I tell her.

The girls walk into the kitchen rather scantily clad.

"You two are aware that we are going to Greenland, right? Despite the name, it's like 90% ice," I inform them.

"Don't worry, Cole! This is just so we are comfortable on the plane..." Cheza says.

_"We won't be wearing them for long anyway,"_ Cheza mumbles.

"What was that?" I ask.

"Oh, nothing. Let's get going!" Cheza exclaims while walking towards the door.

Sara drives us to the airport and we all board the same G5 that we took to Hawaii. I assume my position on the couch and fall asleep while reading an eBook on my phone.

...

I awaken when a sex kitten and a naughty Swiss maid decide that a repeat of last night is necessary now that we're five and a half miles high, and I learn the answer to my Cheza/tail question.

...

I, sweating and breathing heavily, sit down on the couch (Hurray for Scotch Guard!) next to a near comatose Natasha and Cheza. This is exhausting... I don't know how Jason manages it! I check the flight menu on the TV and see that we have roughly an hour until we land. After resting for half of that hour, the girls go to their luggage to get warmer clothing. I throw my holster on under my jacket, as well as wrapping the Obliterator around my waist like a belt. I now have both Diamond swords slung across my back, the Obliterator around my waist, my Sic dagger in the back pouch, and my gun with 175 rounds and its suppressor. I think I'm prepared for most anything at this point.

"This is probably something we should have thought about before, but we may have some trouble at customs since you are bringing in shitloads of weapons and we don't have jurisdiction in other countries..." Natasha points out when we land.

"Why? Does Greenland even have a customs agency? Like nobody lives there. There are more people in Goodyear alone than there are in all of Greenland. The town we are landing in has less than 5,000 people! I just assumed that a seal and two sled dogs would be working security!" I exclaim.

"Well they do and they don't allow guns," Natasha says.

"WHAT!? What kind of bullshit is that!? What about polar bears!?" I exclaim.

"Ooh let's just go get mauled by a polar bear _eh_? Since we don't have guns and all..." I say with a stereotypical Canadian accent because I don't know what a Greenlandic accent sounds like.

"Oooooh... so that's why their population is so small..." I conclude.

"No, Cole. Guns aren't illegal, you just can't import them," Natasha explains.

"Well shit! What are we going to do?" I ask.

"Hope for the best?" Natasha suggests. I stare at her incredulously.

"Alright ladies, get your luggage in hand, stand next to me, and be quiet. Now, does anyone remember the name of the hotel that we are staying at?" I ask.

"Arctic Hotel," Cheza curiously answers while dressed in jeans and the tan sweater that I bought for her, but Tia gave her, for her birthday.

I pull out my phone and use Google satellite maps to search for an alleyway near the hotel. After the eight hour flight, it's already 10pm here in Ilulissat Greenland so this should be sufficient for porting without being seen... by one of the less than 5,000 people in this... town? Or does a population that small constitute calling it a village?

"Okay, both of you need to touch me," I state.

(Phrasing)

"Uh, Cole? I think we already did that and then some," Natasha replies with a sly smile.

"Just touch my chest," I tell them and they do.

"Natasha, please stop rubbing my nipple. It's distracting," I request as I grab my bag with my left hand.

Natasha stops, I visualize the alleyway, and I touch my triskele. Wow, it just became a tad chilly.

"Whoa! Cole, that was awesome!" Natasha exclaims.

"Thanks Natasha, but can you stop rubbing my nipple?" I request.

"Are you sure you want me to?" Natasha asks while pushing her chest out, tilting her head, and batting her eyes at me.

"Yes, I'm sure," I reply with a flat tone.

Chapter 31: Small Silver Lining

I grab my luggage, walk around the corner, and head into the hotel lobby. Natasha and Cheza follow me into the place where the temperature isn't below freezing. I walk up to the counter and see something that doesn't surprise me in the slightest:

There is a dog working the reception desk.

"Hello... I would like to check in," I say. The white sled dog tilts its head to the side in response.

(He probably doesn't speak English)

"Right... thank you, Airi."

I pull out my phone, open up my translating app, and have it ask the question in Danish since Greenlandic isn't an option.

Airi, Natasha, and Cheza all start laughing their asses off. Natasha walks up and rings the bell that is underneath the sign that says 'PLEASE RING BELL' that I was too distracted by the dog to notice. An Inuit guy, who is probably Cheza's age, walks in from the back while trying really hard not to laugh.

"I'd like to check in please. The reservation should be under Treyfair," I say.

The clerk is still trying not to laugh and to keep doing so, he can't respond as he enters my name into the computer. He slides a packet of card keys to me and hands me a map to the room.

"Thank you," I reply.

I grab my luggage and follow the map to the room with the girls on my heels. We get to the room, which is miniscule compared to the one in Hawaii, and I notice that there is only one bed.

"I'll go see if they have another room," I say and turn around in time to see Cheza lock the door.

"Why would you ever go and do a silly thing like that?" Natasha asks as she presses herself up against me before Cheza comes over and does the same.

"Ladies... I'm still tired from before and then the porting us here..." I say as they push me onto the bed and rip my jeans off.

"Sorry, I'm just too tired. I won't be able to get it up!" I exclaim while completely flaccid until Cheza grabs my junk. I really wish that she didn't have the ability to control my blood right about now. I see that I won't be getting out of this so I proceed to pleasure both of them.

"FASTER!" they both scream and I oblige.

"HARDER!" they both order and I oblige once again.

"You know, I'm starting to feel like a piece of meat," I inform them as Natasha rides me while I'm in a 'crab-walk' position.

"Yes, but at least you're a piece of meat that is having a threesome," Cheza points out.

"Now hurry up or Chezarei and I will just leave you out of it!" Natasha threatens.

"You mean that's an option!?" I ecstatically ask.

"SHUT UP!" they both shout.

"Yes mistresses..." I timidly reply as I thrust upward.

...

[June 3rd]

The girls finally fall asleep three hours later, after they have both been thoroughly satisfied.

"I think I've just been raped..."

(What's that? Raped? Here you go mate, that'll take the edge off. It's called a Jeffrey)

"WHY THE FUCK IS IT CALLED A JEFFREY!?"

(Because who could be scared of a Jeffrey? Just stroke the furry wall, Aaron. KEEP STROKING THE WALL!)

"Hahaha thanks, Airi!"

_(Just remember that you were raped by two beautiful women and you didn't find yourself screaming 'WHY DOES IT HAVE BALLS!?')_

"That's true. There is that small silver lining."

I fall asleep next to Cheza and Natasha only to wake up at 2:30am. I slowly get out of bed, so as to not wake up the girls, and I walk out onto the balcony. The aurora borealis is pretty nice, but not quite worth the shrinkage I am currently experiencing because I'm in my boxers and it is literally freezing out here.

"Hey Cole, can't sleep?" Cheza asks as she steps out onto the balcony wearing panties and a camisole, her nips immediately popping in response to the cold (not that mine aren't).

"You too?" I ask.

"Not without you..." Cheza responds as she moves in to hug me. I hold her against my right side as we look up at the aurora borealis.

"The northern lights are really pretty..." Cheza quietly says.

"Yeah, but they're better with you here," I tell her.

(Good job not going with the obvious 'not as pretty as you' response, but it's still a little cheesy, just sayin')

We stand there in silence for a few moments, just holding each other.

"Hey Cole, give me your left hand for a second," Cheza requests.

I lift my left hand up for her to take while getting a flashback of when I almost died in her lap. As I continue staring at the northern lights, I feel her playing with my hand and then I feel something on my ring finger.

"Cole... will you marry me?" Cheza asks somewhat timidly.

"Cheza... It's not that I don't love you..." I say while trying to find the correct phrasing.

"Then what is it?" Cheza inquires with tears forming in her eyes.

"I just don't really know if I want to get married. There is a pretty decent chance that I'll be dead before the year is up and the last thing I want to do is make you a teenage widow. This isn't the 1800's," I explain.

"...How about a five year engagement?" Cheza suggests. I think for the better part of a minute.

"Okay... but only if we can switch roles. You'll be Jason Segel and I'll be what's-her-face. I'll get shot in the leg with an arrow and you can grow the awesome mutton chops!" I respond.

"Haha! That's fine with me, darling," Cheza says with a million dollar smile and tears in her eyes. I bend my head down and kiss her before we go back to snuggling as we look skyward.

"Does this make Natasha my concubine?" I ask a few moments later.

"No... it makes her my mistress that I occasionally share with you," Cheza replies so seriously that I am forced to look at her. She just stares back at me with an innocent smile.

"Oh, here," Cheza says and puts an identical ring on my right middle finger.

It's my first time actually looking at the rings as the light illuminates my hands enough for me to see them: they're a dark tungsten carbide band with a carbon fiber inlay that is covered by some kind of clear plastic polymer.

"What's this all about? Why do I need two rings?" I inquire.

"Twist the clear part counter-clockwise... or clockwise if that doesn't work. I may have put the rings on backwards," Cheza tells me.

I do as she says and twist the right ring counter-clockwise. It turns and when a triangular hole in the plastic reaches a certain point, the plastic locks in place. I look at the ring in the radiating light and see that a tiny, spring-loaded, carbon fiber blade has been ejected. I twist it clockwise and the plastic forces the blade back down.

"This is totally awesome, Cheza! These will be really useful! Where did you get them?" I ask.

"Well, remember that night with the Sara incident, when Natasha, Tia and I were gone? We actually went out to get these rings commissioned by someone Tia knows. I've been holding on to these for the past few days while trying to find the right moment to ask you..." Cheza explains.

"Thank you, Cheza. These may just save my life!" I tell her.

"Now let's go inside and get some sleep," I suggest and we do so.

...

Cheza and I wake up at 10am the next morning to find that Natasha is gone, as is her luggage. I spot a folded piece of paper standing upright on the dresser.

Hey guys, my grandparents actually live close by so I'm going to visit them for a few days. I'll be there for three days at most so I'll be back before we are scheduled to fly home. -Natasha

"Well, at least she left a note and we know that she's okay. Let's just get some breakfast, wander around town looking for Jason's next clue, and then we can go to this spot Tia told us to go to. Sound good?" I suggest.

"Sounds perfect. I'm starving!" Cheza replies.

We take a shower together and get dressed in warm, but comfortable clothing that includes our armored jackets. Two sword hilts would be too conspicuous here so I only take the pouch as we head to the café for breakfast. After a light breakfast, we head out and walk around town.

Ilulissat is very similar to a couple of Puget Sound port towns that I've been to (or any other port town for that matter) except there weren't pastel colored buildings and sled dog crossing signs everywhere in Washington. I can understand why they have all the buildings painted colorfully, the rest of this place is pretty colorless, but it just looks sort of tacky. These buildings are painted the kinds of colors that would make any H.O.A. in America lose its shit.

We walk around for a few hours and I'm pretty sure we've seen the majority of the town now with no hints whatsoever. I can hear the various bells of boats, buoys, and churches, as the smell of the ocean wafts off from the harbor. There is a smokestack near the harbor that I assume belongs to a fishery. Considering that we haven't been there yet, we start heading that way.

"Hey, Cole? Do they have cougars here?" Cheza asks me when the harbor is in sight.

"No, I don't think mountain lions are in Greenland," I reply while trying to identify the large, concrete, cylindrical structures that are on a steep cape near the entrance to the harbor, which appear to be a couple of miles outside of town.

"So it would be bizarre for that shop to be selling cougar traps?" she asks while pointing to a shop sign that reads "NOW SELLING COUGAR TRAPS!"

"Cheza, I think you just found our clue," I say, grab her hand, and walk across the road to the supply store, checking both ways for throngs of sled dogs first. Those yipping modes of transportation can really sneak up on you!

We walk into the small supply store and act like we are browsing. An employee walks up and says something in Danish.

"Can I help you?" the employee asks when she realizes that we don't speak Danish.

"Yes, I'm looking for a cougar trap," I tell her and her eyes narrow. I'm not fond of that look so I reach underneath the back of my jacket and wrap my right hand around the hilt of my Sic dagger as a precaution.

"I would love to show you, but the key to the case has been missing," she says in a manner that makes it completely obvious that she is speaking in code.

"Do you mean this key?" I ask as I take out my wallet and remove the key that has been sitting in it for over a week. The employee doesn't respond and instead she goes into the back and comes out with a can of shaving cream.

"Thank you," I reply and walk out with Cheza in tow.

We head back to the hotel room in silence.

"So what's with the can of shaving cream? Is it some sort of clue that only you would understand?" Cheza asks.

"Possibly..." I say as I wedge my fingernails in the metal lip at the bottom of the can and pull.

"There was this comedian, Eugene Mirman, who had a can of shaving cream that was also a stash box," I say as the bottom pops off. I pull out a slip of paper and a golden, palm-sized, coin that has an interesting slanted H on it.

CT, Be careful, everything isn't as it seems in Ilulissat. Port to this location on June 11th and don't bring your fiancée: 37.8188N, 122.4784W –J

Chapter 32: Scotty Doesn't Know

"Alright, let's go to the place Tia told me to take you to. Make sure to bring the Synergistic blades," I tell her as I shrug off my jacket and strap on the rest of my holster as a precaution.

After putting my jacket back on over my holster, I take out my phone, enter the coordinates from the GPS, and find a suitable 'landing zone' on Disko Island using the satellite maps. Cheza comes back with a sheath hanging from the left side of her belt.

"Oh, and put your hood on just in case," I tell her.

Cheza hangs on to me as I touch my triskele and port us to a location that is a mile away from the coordinates on the GPS. We arrive in a snow and ice covered slope on Disko Island. We start the mile long hike up the slope and through the snow to the spot on the GPS.

"This is actually kind of nice. I mean, this hill isn't, but it is quiet and we are here alone..." Cheza says after about thirty minutes.

"Cheza, I'm not going to have sex with you in the snow!" I joke.

_(His front lawn, in the snow. Laughing so hard 'cause Scotty doesn't know! Scotty doesn't know!)_

Cheza and I both start laughing as I spot some kind of ice structure in front of us. The structure sits in a natural bowl on three sides. I wonder why neither showed up on the maps. I stop laughing when an arrow sticks into my left thigh.

"HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS COMING AFTER LAST NIGHT!?" I scream as my helmet engages.

A second arrow flies into my right thigh as Cheza draws the Synergistic blades. With the helmet engaged, I can clearly see the archers as one of them lets an arrow fly at Cheza. I knock her to the ground while I pull my gun and fire two rounds before using my gun to bat the arrow away from me. I notice that the archer's auras are unusual: white outlines, but their centers all have an icy white to them with various shades of blue.

(Incoming: 2, 10, and 11)

I do a sideways flip to my left while firing a total of six rounds as the arrows pass underneath my head. The three archers hit the snow in sprays of red as I land, the JHP rounds I have loaded having blown rather large chunks out of them. I wrap my hands around the carbon fiber shafts and rip the arrows out of my thighs as ten more enemies come out of the ice structure, each with a single-edged curved blade. Unlike the archers, these ones are wearing body armor and helmets.

(Obliterate)

I whip out the Obliterator as all ten come at me. I spin forward to build centrifugal force, adding extra momentum into my swing, and I let the Obliterator fly at neck level.

"COLE!" I hear a voice shout. I look past the ten soldiers and see Natasha coming from the ice structure wearing a white fur-lined parka.

"Natasha?" I ask incredulously, thoroughly confused as I twist the hilt of the Obliterator so that my swing flies harmlessly over the soldiers heads. "What are you doing here?"

"What in the hell are you two doing here!? Didn't you see my note?" she angrily asks.

"Yeah, you said you were going to visit your grandparents, so why are you he—oh," I reply as the realization suddenly dawns on me.

"Wait, so why are you two here? And why didn't the checkpoint at the bottom of the slope report anything?" Natasha asks.

"Tia told us to come here. She said it would help Cheza with her control. As for the bottom checkpoint, they probably didn't report anything because I ported us about a mile from here," I answer.

"And Tia doesn't know that you can port so there's no way she would have known that this could even happen... well, come inside. My grandfather undoubtedly wants to speak with you," Natasha says.

"Princess! They just killed four of our people!" one of the soldiers protests.

"If you assclowns don't hurry up, they will be dead. Get going and bring them to Pinga!" Natasha shouts and then storms inside before I have the chance to ask the obvious question. If I remember correctly, Pinga is a goddess of medicine in Inuit mythology.

I help Cheza up before we follow Natasha into the structure that I now recognize as an igloo. Inside the igloo is a tunnel that is about 10'x10' and leads down at a ten-degree angle. I see Natasha about one hundred feet down the tunnel stopped in front of a reinforced steel wall and door that look as though they belong on a battleship (and is roughly 18 feet underground if my estimate is correct).

"OPEN THE DOOR DAMMIT!" Natasha screams and the door opens.

We follow her through the door where two burly men are standing guard... is it just me or are their ears kind of pointy? We walk into a circular atrium that has eight separate passageways and is made entirely of ice. Cheza and I follow Natasha through the third passageway on the right and I notice that most of the people that we pass also have pointy-ish ears. I also notice that everyone is either glaring angrily at me or warily staring. Something tells me that they don't get many visitors.

"Sooo... princess?" I ask when we catch up to Natasha.

"COLE! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THAT UNFAMILIAR TONE WITH ME WHEN YOU WERE BALLS DEEP IN MY ASS YESTERDAY!" Natasha screams at me, causing roughly thirty people to turn and look at us.

"Yes mistress!" I yelp in response. Natasha gets this kind of satisfied smile when she looks around and then she keeps walking.

"Care to explain what that was about?" I quietly ask.

"I'm not really a princess. My grandfather is simply the chief and has ordered everyone to call me that because he knows that I hate it. So in response, I try my hardest to act like the opposite of a princess," Natasha explains.

"Oh, so that's why you were screaming about anal sexploits in the middle of a crowded hall," I conclude.

"No, I did that because I love seeing your face when you're uncomfortable," Natasha teases with a surreptitious smile.

"Anyway, we are almost there. Get ready to port out of here in case things go south," Natasha says with a sudden expression of uncertainty.

We walk up to a large set of metal double doors and Natasha takes a deep breath before pushing them open. Inside there is a fit man with eastern European features, who appears to be in his sixties, on an elaborate throne of ice. Beside him, there is a younger Inuit man on a less ornate throne of ice. The thrones are on top of a raised metal platform that is roughly three feet high. The rest of the room is made of stone (walls, floor, ceiling). Both of the men are wearing feather-down jackets with annoyed expressions as we walk in.

"Cole, Chezarei, this is my grandfather Jorgen and that is Akhlut," Natasha says with a certain amount of malice.

"Her fiancé," Akhlut finishes with a sleazy smile that makes me want to smash his face in with a rock.

"Not by choice!" Natasha angrily adds.

"Natasha! Now explain why you have brought the man that just nearly killed four of our people into our home!" Jorgen shouts.

"This is my friend, Cole, and he wouldn't have nearly killed anyone had they said something before they shot him in the legs and most likely shot at Chezarei," Natasha defends me.

"How do we know that he didn't start the altercation!?" Akhlut asks accusingly. Man, I really do not like this guy.

"Because if Cole had been the one to start it, then he wouldn't have been hit by the arrows in the first place," Natasha replies.

"This baby-faced pansy doesn't look that tough!" Akhlut rebukes.

(Flash forward and drive your Sic dagger hilt-deep into his chest. Show him how tough you really are)

It is taking a great deal of self-control not to do as Airi says and kill this asshole, most likely because I really want to do so. I feel Cheza grab my hand and all of my anger dissipates.

"Excuse me, Sir?" I say while addressing Jorgen. "Chezarei and I came here today because an Aztecan goddess told us to come here so that Chezarei could learn to control her power."

"Explain why I should overlook your transgression!" Jorgen shouts. I think his volume is slightly uncalled for, but only slightly.

"Besides, this girl isn't even a full elf so she can't even use her power!" Akhlut imparts.

"Asshole, did it look like I was talking to you!?" I ask, my anger towards Akhlut bubbling over.

"NOBODY TALKS TO ME THAT WA—" Akhlut shouts before Jorgen silences him.

"Listen here, boy. I will overlook your transgression if you fight in The Cage," Jorgen says with a smile slowly spreading across his face.

"I will fight against as many enemies you wish to pit against me. However, if I win, you have to teach Chezarei and allow Natasha to marry whomever she wishes," I tell him.

"HA! LIKE YOU'RE IN A POSITION TO MAKE DEMA—" Akhlut shouts before Jorgen silences him again.

"Agreed, but you have to enter The Cage in only your underwear and without any weapons," Jorgen says.

"Deal," I inform him.

"Good, the match will begin in an hour," Jorgen says as he and Akhlut stand and walk towards the door.

"Oh and by the way, be prepared to fight to your death!" Jorgen exclaims with his back turned as he walks out the door.

"Hehe... that won't be a problem," I chuckle as I feel a smile creep across my face.

"Uh, Cole? Are you aware that you pretty much just asked to marry me if you win?" Natasha asks.

"I what?" I ask in a stunned fashion.

"Cole, it did sort of sound like you were asking to marry her..." Cheza quietly says.

"Shit! Cheza, I swear that wasn't my intent! It was just obvious to me that Natasha doesn't want to get married to that asshole and I really want to ruin his day!" I explain.

"Cole, you don't need to explain it to me... what did he mean that I'm not 'full elf' though?" Cheza asks.

My mind reels back to when I overhead Kira talking about Cheza's fae blood.

"My guess is that you are like Natasha and one of your parents was an elf. At least it would explain why both of your auras have a frosty white in them," I tell her.

"Am I correct in that assumption Natasha? That one of your parents was a snow elf and the other was human? Is that why your grandfather treats you like shit and broke your shoulder when you were ten?" I ask while connecting all of the dots.

"...Yes... that's correct. My father fell in love with a human and ran away with her. When my mother died giving birth, he reacted poorly and drank himself to death. After that, my grandmother took care of me. My grandfather trained me to fight, but in reality, he didn't want anything to do with me. One day, he just couldn't take it anymore and he broke my shoulder," Natasha explains while avoiding eye contact and absentmindedly rubbing her shoulder.

"We should probably start heading over to The Cage now. Are you sure about this, Cole?" Natasha asks.

"Of course! I get to help you and Cheza, and I get to ruin the day of two assholes! I don't see a downside!" I tell her.

"Oh, so anal sex with Cheza and I was just implied as a reward for your efforts? Did you think it was going to be that easy? Well I'll have you know that I totally am that easy!" Natasha jokes. Natasha and I laugh, but Cheza doesn't seem to be in a joking mood.

"Don't worry, Cheza. I'll be fine," I reassure her while feeling her growing concern.

We follow Natasha through a series of passages for about fifteen minutes until we reach a huge room with basketball stadium-style seating that must be able to fit around one thousand patrons. In the center of the room is a gigantic chain-link cube that is approximately 30'x30'x30'. The cube has a three foot tall ice base that sits on the steel floor of the room, which is about ten feet below the first row of seating. Each side of the ice floor has a barred door that leads to a passage out of the stadium. It reminds me of the passages that lead to the locker rooms in sports stadiums.

"So, give me the run down on what kind of people I'll be fighting," I tell her.

"Well, some may be soldiers that have been ordered to kill you, some may be soldiers that want to kill you, and some may be regular Cage fighters that would enjoy killing you," Natasha replies as I feel Cheza grow more apprehensive.

"I meant more along the lines of what styles of fighting and what weapons they'll be using... how grave of injuries can Pinga heal? Is she the same Pinga from Inuit mythology?" I ask.

"Yes she is, and she can do as much as reattach severed limbs, but she can't bring anyone back from the dead. Just finish it quick and try not to kill everybody, Cole," Natasha says with a somewhat sadistic smile as I see people starting to find seats.

"Come on. Let's go into the combatant's chambers," Natasha says and walks out of the stadium.

Cheza and I follow Natasha down into the combatant's chamber, which is like any locker room I've ever been in. I strip down to my boxers as I hear the stadium start to get louder.

"You two should get up there so you can get good seats," I tell them.

"Sure, just be careful out there, Cole," Natasha says and starts to walk out.

Cheza doesn't say anything. She just kisses me before running after Natasha. Five minutes later, I hear the stadium roar, followed by Jorgen's voice booming throughout it. He is speaking in a language that is completely unfamiliar, but I think it may be Greenlandic. I hear the stadium roar again as I feel Cheza's rapidly growing concern. About thirty seconds later, I hear my name as the door opens.

I'll take that as my cue.

Chapter 33: I'll Just Buy My Own Damn Cake!

When I walk up the steps and into The Cage, I am greeted with a sea of negative comments as I see my opponents, all twenty-five of them. At the front of the pack is Akhlut, wearing a smug smile and holding an elaborate, mother-of-pearl and chrome, Colt M1911 .45 caliber pistol. I fired the same model on one occasion during training with Tia before she moved me to the 10mm Auto. My other opponents are holding a medley of swords, spears, clubs, and three are holding composite bows.

"Okay, Cole. You can do this. Promise that you won't lose yourself. Focus on the fight, not the screams of agony, or the feel of limbs being sliced off of bodies, or the showering of blood, or the screams, or the blood, or the screams," I tell myself

"HAHA LOOK AT THAT! THE PANSY IS SO SCARED HE'S SHAKING!" Akhlut yells and the majority of his gang and the stadium laugh. I suppose he does have the home field advantage.

I feel the smile on my face increase as I twist my rings, slice open both my wrists, and twist my rings closed.

"SORRY BUDDY, BUT SLITTING YOUR WRISTS ISN'T GOING TO KILL YOU QUICKLY ENOUGH!" Akhlut shouts with a cocky smile on his face.

I start to chuckle as the helmet wraps around my head and Akhlut's smile falters. Akhlut panics and starts firing his .45 caliber pistol. At thirty feet away, a .45 does about as much good as throwing the bullets at a normal person with my increased speed. I would have had some trouble had he been using a 10mm auto or something with a higher velocity, but since I've been training with Dagda, I could even dodge a 10mm auto bullet at thirty feet without too much trouble. The stadium cheers and then falls silent when I start laughing loudly, sounding slightly demonic because of the helmet.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING!? GO GET HIM!" Akhlut screams in a panic.

I continue laughing as I slowly advance. Five soldiers (that aren't still in shock) rush towards me relatively quickly. I'd say that they are nearly as fast as vampires, but still slow compared to my speed. One with a sword takes the lead and makes a quick thrust at me as a second swordsman moves in with a downward slash from my right. I shuffle to my left to avoid the thrust as I snap the first guy's shin with a swift, downward kick. I grab the wrist of the extended arm in front of me and yank it to the right as I turn, and then I shift back about a foot. The downward slash of the second opponent severs the forearm that I put in its path, simultaneously arming me and disarming his comrade... haha, dis-arm...

I sever the sword arm of the second opponent and snatch his sword as he falls to the ground. I see a spear being thrust in at the Cage's 10 o'clock by a short elf woman. I scissor the spear's head between both of my swords. I'm about to cut off her leg when I realize that disfiguring a woman who isn't a vampire or werewolf, and one that may just be following orders, will probably leave a bad taste in my mouth. I spin around behind her and knock her out with a palm strike to the base of her skull instead. Now I just have to finish this in under five minutes so Pinga can help her quickly enough in case she has a brain hemorrhage.

The remaining two have a sword and a club, both of which are being swung at me. I duck underneath their attacks as I attempt to sever both of their legs. I get through one leg each, but both swords get stuck in their second legs.

(Incoming: arena's 12)

I look and see nine arrows flying at me... well, in my general direction because even though firing three arrows at once is cool, you can't aim all three. So I dive to the right and throw three darts from my arm as the two arrows that I dive in the path of, fly high. None of the darts hit their target: the pressure point in between the knuckles of their middle and ring fingers on their bow hands, which would cause them extreme pain to keep a grip on their bows. Instead, one dart hits a guy in the throat and the second dart hits the bow of the other archer. The last dart misses because I threw it as my shoulder hit the ground. I hear the bow snap when the second archer tries to draw the string back without noticing the dart that penetrated the frame. I throw another dart to take out the last archer as I stand up. _(5.76 Liters)_

I quickly form a full-sized Sic blade in preparation for the sixteen armed opponents advancing towards me. _(5.26 Liters)_

"Any advice on this one, Airi?"

(Use the walls like you did in Hawaii)

I start jogging away from the group of opponents and towards the nearest wall. I jump onto the wall and hang there from my left hand with both feet planted against the wall. When the group gets close, I spring forward, slicing the legs off a large chunk of them as I pass by. I land, turn, and sprint forward into a slide, using the blood as grease so I don't get the ice equivalent of road rash... ice rash?

I slice through four more legs before sliding straight into the chain-link fence, getting my leg stuck in the process. The remaining five opponents all swing at me and I'm miraculously able to block all five. However, now I've got a problem because I can't counterattack and they are eventually going to get smart enough for one to stop their current attack and make a follow-up attack when they realize I can't block it.

"Airi, I'm in a little bit of trouble here!"

(Working on it... Okay left hand, 4.76 Liters)

I look over and find another Sic blade in my left hand. I quickly slash through the ten ankles around me before I get myself unstuck from the fence. The screams finally catch up to me and I start getting lost in them until I can make out the screaming of two females, then my high just fades away. I seem to enjoy making women scream, just not in that way. Gods forbid that Cheza ever turns into a masochist.

I stand and walk slowly over to Akhlut, who is ten feet away and looks like he is about to piss himself. Akhlut's eyes flick from mine and a smile starts to cross his face. He lifts his gun and turns it away from me. I immediately know what he is about to do and I'll be damned if I am about to watch her get shot two separate times in the same week.

I flash forward and I take the round right into my stomach. Akhlut's eyes widen in surprise, and then his smile widens as he unloads the rest of the magazine into me. His smile fades when he sees that I'm not falling down.

"COLE!" Cheza screams in my mind, but I neglect to respond.

"You know, I promised myself that I wasn't going to lose myself this time. That I wasn't going to brutally kill anyone today," I gravely say in a demonic tone as Akhlut keeps pulling the trigger, causing the gun to continue clicking to notify him that he's fucked.

"However, I am going to forgive myself for breaking that promise because you just tried to shoot Cheza and/or Natasha. Do you want to know what happened to the last person that shot Cheza? I ripped off his fucking arm and beat him to death with it. And Cheza had just killed one of his friends! What do you think I am going to do to the person who just tried to shoot Cheza when she had only been sitting in the stands?" Akhlut starts blubbering in horror.

"HEY NATASHA! HOW MANY PIECES DOES A LIMB HAVE TO BE IN BEFORE PINGA CAN'T REATTACH IT?" I shout.

"I don't know. I've never had to reattach a limb that was in pieces before," a woman who is not Natasha replies.

"What's your best guess?" I ask at just a slightly elevated volume because I'm sure she'll hear me.

"Approximately seven," Pinga replies.

"Slices or dice cut?" I inquire.

"Slices," She says.

"Arm or leg?" I ask.

"Let's go with the right arm!" Pinga exclaims as I look down and I see that is his gun hand so it's most likely his predominant hand as well.

"Oohoo! That is cruel! I like your style, Pinga!" I shout.

"Alright then, let's hope you can learn to jack it with your left hand. Ahem... FOR SCIENCE!" I shout as I bring the blade down on Akhlut's right hand. His scream causes a shiver to run through me.

"Just remember that this is for the good of all of Pinga's future patients!" I remind Akhlut over his screaming. I go through his arm two more times. Part of me knows that I'm getting lost in it, but the other part really doesn't care.

As I cut off another slice, I notice that this pansy has actually been rendered unconscious! What's up with that? I should just eviscerate him and see if that shocks him awake... no, I have an even better idea. It's about time I experimented with some of those unstable chemical compounds, a certain one with a chemical formula of C3H5N3O9. I allow some of my blood to drip into his mouth where I move it down his throat and into his stomach.

"Hey Akhlut! I need you to wake up!" I say as I smack his face back and forth repeatedly.

"There he is!" I exclaim as his eyes open. "Okay, I need you to tell me if you can feel this!"

I snap my fingers and Akhlut starts screaming so loud that I can barely contain myself. His blood splatters my face as his stomach explodes outward like he's giving birth to fucking Alien. Looks like I figured out how my Drive blew up that vampire's head. It seems I can make a quick and dirty form of nitroglycerine using atoms from my blood's carbon dioxide, water, and blood urea nitrogen that is then rapidly heated by the body's temperature, which destabilizes the nitroglycerine causing an explosion. That was totally awesome!

"COLE! Stop it! I'm freaking out because you have five bullets in your fucking stomach and you're just over there, having all of the fun!" Cheza screams in my mind.

It's at this point that I stop laughing, even though I wasn't aware that I had been laughing in the first place. Cheza calling what I've been doing 'fun' is a huge red flag for me. Is this because of that werewolf she killed?

"I'm sorry, Cheza..." I think as I turn towards her while whipping my Sic blade through Akhlut's neck.

"JESUS CHRIST, COLE!" Cheza screams in my mind as she sits wide-eyed in the stands.

"What?" I ask.

"YOU HAVE AN ERECTION!" she screams. I look down and see that she is correct.

"Just half of one! And I believe that this is what is called a vengeance boner," I reply.

(Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'Hard at Work')

I start chuckling at Airi's joke and realize that I can't look any more like a psychopath than I do at the moment. Let's take stock of my situation, shall we? I am currently covered in blood while nearly naked, laughing, and have an erection that I achieved by setting off an explosive in a man's stomach. Oh and I forgot the part where I'm in the middle of a bunch of people that are screaming in agony and that there are about one thousand people silently staring at me.

"Cheza, I swear that this is the only instance where a man will be able to give me an erection," I think to her as I make it go away.

I silently walk back into the chamber. I really want to raise my arms above my head and shout to the crowd 'ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?' with a British accent, despite the fact that I'm pretty sure the movie/show that that is from is about gladiators in Rome... I think that's Russell Crowe's line. I walk over to the showers and hose the blood off of me so that I can see what I'm doing with the bullets.

"Alright, Airi. What can I do about the bullets?"

(Only one bullet is in your actual stomach so the method from Hawaii isn't going to work here. Short of eviscerating yourself, there is nothing that you can do)

"Well how urgent is it for me to remove them?"

(It isn't essential)

I start getting dressed when the door opens.

"That was rather impressive, young man. I'd expect no less from The Executioner of The Faction," I hear Pinga say behind me.

"How do you know who I am?" I ask, slightly on edge.

"I'm the Inuit pantheon's representative in The Faction and my granddaughter has mentioned you a few times," Pinga replies.

I turn around and get my first real look at her. Pinga is a fit Inuit woman with sharp features and stunning green, almond-shaped eyes, who appears to be in her early forties. Instead of wearing a traditional Inuit parka, she is wearing a tight fitting white ski jacket with a fur lined hood and matching tight white pants.

"Granddaughter?" I ask.

"Hey Cole! How's your stom—oh, hi grandma!" Natasha says while barging in with Cheza behind her.

"Why am I not surprised?" I rhetorically ask as Pinga starts to speak.

"Oh, hello dear, we were just speaking of you. I came down to see if I couldn't get those bullets out of your fiancé, whom I approve of much more than that butt stallion your asshole of a grandfather decided you were marrying," Pinga says. I take it that she and Jorgen are no longer together.

"Pinga, there seems to be a misunderstanding. I'm already engaged. I was fighting because Natasha is my friend and I didn't want her to be forced to marry that asshole," I explain.

"Well you can marry her too, if you wish. You did just win the right to after all. The Inuit people have always been rather open towards polygamy. I would love to have you as my grandson, and not just because it would seriously piss off my ex haha!" Pinga informs me.

"I'll talk to Natasha about that later. As for the bullets, I'd rather you focus on getting everybody's limbs attached first," I tell her.

"Alright, if you insist, and I'll be the one training your fiancée so don't worry about talking to Jorgen. He's probably all pissy right now anyway," Pinga says as she walks through the hall leading to The Cage.

"Cole..." Cheza quietly says with concern in her eyes.

"I'm alright, Cheza. Airi says that it isn't essential for me to remove them," I inform her.

"Let's head to my room so we can talk," Natasha says.

We follow her through the maze of corridors until she opens a door that leads into a large circular room that is around thirty feet in diameter. Natasha's bedroom is all stone with a large fur rug that must be polar bear. The room has a large four-poster bed (that almost looks Elizabethan), a leather couch, a dresser, a desk, and a 40" flat screen. To the left is a door that I assume leads to a bathroom, and to the right is an archway that I think leads to a closet.

"Cheza, why did you say I was 'having all of the fun'?" I question.

"Don't worry, Cole. It was just a figure of speech," Cheza explains, but I'm not positive that I believe her.

"Okay... as for this engagement business, what are your thoughts on it, Natasha?" I inquire.

"Well, honestly... I wouldn't mind getting married because it would really only be a marriage in the snow elf society and it would keep my grandfather from being able to marry me off to some other douchebag," Natasha replies.

"I'm fine with it, Cole... as long as we get married for the rest of the societies," Cheza informs me.

"*Gasp* you know what we should do? We should have a double wedding!...for the snow elf one that is," Natasha exclaims to Cheza.

"That sounds like a great idea! What do we do for a snow elf/Intuit wedding?" Cheza asks Natasha.

"Well, it is basically the same thing as a normal wedding, except the vows are expedited and usually done by Pinga. You're lucky she isn't here right now because she would tell you that we would have to beat the crap out of Cole while he tried to kidnap us haha! She can be a bit traditional at times," Natasha informs Cheza.

"Wait so I'm just marrying Natasha now? Don't I have a say in it?" I ask.

Both of the girls look at me, then at each other, then back at me, scoff, and say "No," like I just asked a really stupid question.

"Fine... just letting you guys know that I'm not into the whole 'couples' orgy' thing even if it is to commune with the dead. As if I'd need to talk to Jason while I was having sex, it was weird enough when he did it..." I say, recalling something I read about a ritualistic orgy or something that the Inuit of Greenland used to do before white people ruined by affectionately calling it 'the whore game.'

"If he wanted to know if we had any more maple syrup, the least he could have done was to stop plowing the broad while he asked! Anyway, I'm porting home to have Sara dig these bullets out of me while you two plan for the wedding. I do have one requirement though: since it is a snow elf wedding, I'm assuming that an ice cream wedding cake is perfectly acceptable," I add before I port to the front yard of the house.

"Yeah right! Like we're going to have an ice cream wedding cake!" Natasha says in my image that Cheza is sending me.

"I know, right!? Cole can be so stupid sometimes!" Cheza exclaims as both the girls laugh.

I pull out my phone and dial Natasha's number. I hear her phone start to ring in the image.

"Hello?" Natasha answers with confusion.

"FINE! THEN I'LL JUST GO PICK UP MY OWN DAMN ICE CREAM CAKE! *Click*" I shout into my phone and hang up.

"Thank you, Airi."

('Twas my pleasure, Master)

Chapter 34: Smoke Bombs Required for Entry... or Exit

I walk in the front door of the house.

"Cole? What are you doing home?" Sara asks.

"Hey Sara, are you busy right now?" I inquire.

"Not particularly, why?" Sara replies.

"I have five bullets in my stomach that need to be removed," I explain.

"When did you get shot!?" Sara asks with alarm.

"About thirty minutes ago," I tell her.

"Cole, how did you get here in less than thirty minutes? And where are the girls?" Tia asks while coming from her room.

"They're still in Greenland, at the place that you told me to take Cheza to. It turns out that Natasha is also part snow elf along with being Pinga's granddaughter. As for your second question, I ported. I discovered I could on Saturday when I ported to Peru to catch a chinchilla for Lila," I explain.

"What!? How can you port anywhere besides to Tir na nOg?" Tia asks.

"I don't know, but I can port inside Tir na nOg as well and I can manipulate things like clothing while in Tir na nOg. That's why Dagda named me a member of the Tuatha De Danann at Lila's party," I say. Tia and Sara just stare at me, wide eyed and jaws agape.

"Oh yeah, I guess you guys didn't know about that part yet either..." I say.

"Well Cole, let's go get those bullets out of you," Sara says after she recovers.

I follow her into the underground clinic, take off my shirt, and hop onto the table.

"Airi, I need you to stop healing, block Cheza, knock me out, and restart healing once Sara is finished."

(Yes, Master)

...

I wake up in my bed a few hours later. I walk out into the living room where Tia and Sara are watching TV. I sit down on the couch as Sara turns the TV off.

"Cole, tell us what happened in Greenland," Sara says.

I run through the events while glossing over the kinky sex parts.

"So I jumped in front of the gun and had the mag unloaded into my stomach. In response, I chopped his arm off in slices until he passed out and then I dripped some blood down his throat. I moved my blood into his stomach, woke him up, transmuted my blood into nitroglycerine, and made his stomach explode outward," I recall.

"LIKE FUCKING ALIEN!? THAT IS SO BADASS!" Tia shouts.

"YEAH!...Ahem, so anyway, now I'm engaged to Natasha too so I ported back here while the girls were planning for our three person snow elf wedding," I finish.

"Well this is certainly an interesting turn of events..." Sara says.

"I know... now I have to go make Natasha a ring. What elements can be used to make a green pigment?" I ask.

"Well, in emeralds the element chromium is what gives them a green pigment," Sara replies.

"Is chromium found in the body?" I ask.

"Yes, trace amounts of chromium are needed for regulating blood sugar," Sara answers.

"Perfect. What can turn a clear gem blue?" I inquire.

"There isn't an element in the human body that can turn something blue. Corundum is what makes sapphires blue but it is an aluminum oxide mineral," Sara explains.

"What's the chemical formula for corundum?" I ask.

"...I can't remember! Google it!" Sara replies.

I always enjoy these moments when I'm reminded that Sara doesn't know everything off the top of her head and the panic that ensues.

"Alright. Thanks for all the help Sara! I'm going to go drain a bunch of my blood to make rings for the girls," I say as I walk back into my room.

"Oh, Cole? While you're back there, can you make some more silicon carbide discs? I need more for this project that I'm working on," Sara requests.

"Sure, how many do you need?" I ask.

"Around twelve hundred," Sara replies as my jaw drops. What is she making, a twenty foot tall robot?

"Yeah, I guess I can do that..." I respond and walk into my room.

I'm glad that I've been too lazy to put the cooler back in the garage. I take my laptop and the cooler over to my bed before slicing open my left wrist with my ring—damn these things are useful! I quickly Google corundum and discover that the formula is Al2O3 and that sapphires are actually corundum with iron or titanium impurities, both of which can be found in blood, although titanium isn't common.

"Alright Airi, you know the drill: half liter in five minute bursts until I have what I need. How much is this project going to need anyway?"

(For what you have in mind, 10.1 Liters)

"Okay, I guess I'll just do some research for the one and a half hours that this will take."

I start researching different explosives. The incident with Akhlut gave me the idea that I may be able to make some sort of grenade. Nitroglycerine can't be used because it's too unstable, so it will be more likely to explode and kill me than it will be to damage my enemies. I start my search with explosives like RDX (C-4) and that leads me to an explosive called HMX, which is used as a trigger for nuclear weapons as well as missiles. This leads me to an experimental explosive that is insanely powerful, but difficult to synthesize called Octanitrocubane or ONC. Thankfully, I don't need to worry about the synthesis problem because I can just rearrange any atoms in my blood with complete disregard to the laws of chemistry!

ONC requires a lot of nitrogen, but it requires fewer components and is more powerful than HMX so it will be perfect. Now I need to research a much less stable compound to detonate the ONC. I find a Wikipedia page called 'contact explosives' and I look for the ones with extreme sensitivity. I find one that is perfect: nitrogen triiodide. Nitrogen triiodide is so shock sensitive that it can be detonated by a feather, an air current, and even sunlight. There is another chemical called chlorine azide that would work, but it requires three times as many nitrogen atoms so nitrogen triiodide will be my best bet.

(The draining is complete)

"Thank you, Airi. Can you make the rings? I am once again leaving this to your artistic discretion."

(Certainly)

I stick my hand in the blood and allow Airi to do her thing. For grenades, I think the best thing I could do is to form the ONC in some kind of glass container and then put some of my blood on top of it. When I throw the container, I'll transmute the blood into nitrogen triiodide while it's in midair so it will explode on impact with the ground. I continue researching while Airi constructs the rings and I come across another high explosive called Octaazacubane. This explosive has a theoretical blast speed that is 1.5 times that of ONC, but it is considered a primary explosive, meaning that it can be detonated without a secondary explosive, so it isn't exactly something that is safe to carry around with me.

(They are finished)

Airi says about an hour later. I look down and see two rings floating in the center of the whirlpool of blood. One is a clear silicon carbide band with a medium sized green diamond, but the second is much more ornate. Cheza's ring is a silver band with a large ice blue diamond that is shaped like a five petal lotus.

"Airi, how do you make my blood silver?"

(...)

"Well, thank you for making these. You did an amazing job! And this inscription on Cheza's ring is perfect too!"

(You are welcome)

I carry the cooler over to my shower and pour the blood/waste down the drain.

"Alright, now I need twelve liters for the discs."

I hold my arm over the cooler and Airi starts the intermittent draining. I've gotten all the relevant information that I can so I start researching nuclear weapons for the hell of it. After I read about how a hydrogen bomb works by fusing two hydrogen isotopes together using immense amounts of pressure, I come up with a hypothesis as to how that Aztec warrior exploded: by creating a hydrogen bomb inside his body.

(Complete)

I look down and see that the cooler is now filled with silicon carbide discs so I pick it up and leave my room. I walk out into the living room where Tia and Sara are still watching TV, and I carry the cooler into Sara's room before heading back to the living room.

"Hey, did anyone tell Dagda that I'm in Greenland?" I ask.

"Yeah, he came by with Lila this morning, wondering where you've been. I told him about your assignment to get Cheza trained. He also mentioned that at the party he was happy to see that you weren't 'as thick as a bull's walt' when it comes to Chezarei anymore," Tia replies.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I inquire.

"I'm not too sure, but considering that thick can mean dense, I'm pretty sure he meant that he was glad to see that you were responding to Chezarei's obvious signs of affection," Sara replies.

"Okaaay... so long as he knows that I'm not just slacking off. I may port to Tir na nOg and get some training in while Cheza is doing hers. Anyway, I should probably head back now so the girls don't worry. See you guys later!" I reply.

"Bye Cole! Be safe!" Tia and Sara say as I touch my triskele.

I port back to Natasha's room only to find that all the lights are off and the girls are no longer here. I exit the room and start wandering around the halls. People are giving me as much space as possible, which is completely understandable considering what I did a few hours ago. About half of an hour later, I am completely lost and wind up in a giant room that seems to be a playground, judging by the swing set and jungle gym. There are some kids playing soccer away from the four boys that are near the jungle gym picking on a small Inuit boy, who is on the ground crying. I start walking towards them.

"Hey! What are you guys doing!?" I shout once I'm close enough. The four boys turn around and two seem to recognize me, if their wide eyes are a good indicator.

"None of your business, asshole!" one of the other two boys replies.

"That's true, but I'm deciding to make it my business," I tell them.

"Fuck off!" the boy angrily exclaims. I narrow my eyes at him.

"Leave," I order in a very stern tone. The two that recognize me take off.

"You can't tell me what to do!" the boy exclaims. I engage my helmet for extra effect.

"I said leave," I sternly repeat with my creepy overlapping voice.

This gets an effect out of the little asshole. He goes into shock, starts crying, and runs off with the other boy following. I'm pretty sure one of them pissed themselves. It seems that the kids that were playing soccer have also made themselves scarce. I disengage the helmet and walk over to the little boy that's on the ground.

"Are you alright?" I ask while holding out my hand.

"Yeah... thanks," The little boy says as I help him to his feet.

"Why were they bullying you?" I ask.

"My cousin and his stupid friends do that and nobody ever stops them because he is a part of the head family..." the little boy quietly replies.

"Head family?" I ask.

"Yeah, how do you not know about the head family? Aren't you the one marrying my sister?" the boy asks.

"HEY DIPSHIT! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING PICKING ON MY LITTLE BROTHER!?" a large blonde man, who is around my age, yells while storming toward me. The little asshole from before is walking beside him with a smug smile on his face and stained pants. I applaud that little asshole for being able to look smug after pissing himself. I sure as shit wouldn't be able to.

"Are you referring to me stopping him and his friends from continuing to bully this boy? Perhaps you should get all of the facts before you go accusing people, you dipshit," I tell him while moving to the right, away from the boy, in case things get confrontational.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST CALL ME!?" he shouts from fifteen feet away.

"Wow... with a role model like you, I see how he turned out to be such a little asshole," I reply.

He responds by pulling a 9mm pistol and firing two rounds at my chest. I barely dodge them, flash forward, and snap the guy's forearm like a twig. The man hits the ground screaming as I grab his gun, eject the magazine, un-chamber the round into my hand, and drop the gun next to him while slipping the magazine and spare round into my pocket.

"Didn't you know that guns get people hurt?" I rhetorically ask under his screams.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!?" some old lady screams.

"GUARDS! ARREST HIM!" she screams while pointing at me.

Four guards rush into the room and make their way towards me. I respond by rolling my eyes and putting my hand on the shoulder of the young boy. I'm about to touch my triskele when I realize that it would let everyone know that I can port, which wouldn't be the smartest idea. Man, why didn't I research smoke bombs earlier when I was researching other bombs?

Luckily, three of the guards recognize who I am and stop coming forward. The fourth guard picks up on the unusual behavior and stops as well.

"WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING!?" the shrill lady shrieks.

"Uh, ma'am... he's the one that fought in The Cage a few hours ago..." one of the guards explains.

"SO WHAT!? HE ATTACKED MY SON!" she shrieks.

"In other words, I took out six times their number when I was completely unarmed, unlike I am now. And if I had attacked your son, he'd be dead. He shot at me with the 9mm that is on the ground and I snapped his arm in response, which I think is more than merciful," I inform her.

"I have no idea where I am so can you lead me back to Natasha's room?" I ask the little boy.

He nods and I follow him out of the room, past the shrill lady that is staring daggers into my hide. Is it just me, or do I smell an assassination plot from that family? Ten minutes later, we arrive at Natasha's room.

"Hey Cole! I see you've met Chris," Natasha comments when we walk in.

"When did you get back?" Cheza inquires.

"About forty-five minutes ago, before I made an enemy out of the head family, got shot at for the second time today, and broke a man's arm," I recap.

"Chris, was Nicolai bullying you again?" Natasha asks with concern.

"Yeah, but Cole made Nicolai pee his pants so I think he may leave me alone for a while," Chris explains.

"And let me guess, Nicolai responded by getting Alex to confront Cole, who undoubtedly said something snarky, causing my other asshole cousin to try and shoot Cole, which ended with Cole snapping his arm like a twig," Natasha summarizes.

"Am I really that predictable?" I ask.

"Towards asshole bullies? Yeah, you kind of are," Cheza replies.

"Oh... wait, so Chris is your little brother?" I ask Natasha.

"Yeah. Adoption isn't uncommon in Inuit or snow elf society and Pinga adopted him as a baby when I was thirteen," Natasha explains.

"QUICK, CHRIS HOW OLD ARE YOU!?" I shout.

"DON'T ANSWER THAT!" Natasha shouts over Chris as he says "Nine."

"WOOHOO! I FINALLY FOUND OUT NATASHA'S AGE!" I shout as Airi displays an image of the fireworks that go off at the end of a solitaire game. I think it's her way of saying 'woop-de-freakin-doo'.

"Wait, so you've only been with the Agency for about a year?" I ask.

"Two years. I was recruited during my junior year of college," Natasha informs me.

"So are you okay with marrying an older woman? Considering all of interests are younger... _or in one case, much younger_..." Natasha mutters while looking away from me with a sly grin on her face.

"Oh, speaking of which, here," I say as I reach into my pocket, ignoring the part she muttered. I walk over to Natasha, take her left hand, and slip the ring onto it.

"Cole... this ring is so pretty... thank you!" Natasha exclaims and she hugs me.

"So you are okay with getting married?" Natasha asks.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said I was perfectly okay with being married to both you and Cheza, but since it's only for snow elf society, I'll just think of it as something like insurance fraud!" I explain.

"It's a bit more serious than insurance fraud, seeing as you will be next in line to be chief instead of my stupid nephews," Pinga says while walking into the room. "Speaking of which, you should probably prepare yourself for the piece of shit that is coming through that door in three, two, one."

"THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THAT I'M GOING TO ALLOW THAT LITTLE PRICK TO BE CHIEF!" Jorgen shouts while barging into the room.

"Then you shouldn't have agreed to it in the first place!" Pinga exclaims.

"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW—" Jorgen starts.

"Awww, is somebwody thwowin a tantwum because things didn't go accowding to pwan?" Pinga interrupts in 'baby-talk'. Jorgen looks like he's about to have a stroke or pop a blood vessel.

"Well too damn bad! I approve of him far more than that piece of shit that tried to fire on the crowd before Cole stepped in front of the gun and took the rounds to his stomach! And he'll make a much better chief than those two little bastards that your bitch of a sister calls her sons!" Pinga finishes.

"We'll see about that..." Jorgen says under his breath as he storms out of the room.

"Well I'm off to bed, as should you, Chezarei. You have training tomorrow. Come, Chris!" Pinga says and leaves the room with Chris in tow.

"She's right, Cheza. We should head back. Are you coming with us Natasha?" I ask.

"It might actually be a good idea for you two to sleep here. Jorgen has enough power to order a hit on you two, but he wouldn't dare try it if you two were staying with me," Natasha suggests.

I respond by touching my triskele and porting to the hotel. I grab Cheza's bag and my own, before porting back to Natasha's room.

"Bathroom is right there I take it?" I ask while motioning towards the door on the left side of the room with my head as I set the bags down.

"Yeah, it is," Natasha confirms as I pull out my toiletry bag from my suitcase.

I enter the gigantic bathroom that includes two sinks, a walk-in shower, and a large bathtub, and I brush my teeth. I strip down, change into boxers that haven't been covered in blood today, and get into the left side of the California King sized bed. Both the girls use the bathroom and climb into bed next to me. Natasha turns out her bedside light and I fall asleep a few minutes later.

...

Chapter 35: Fox-Girls, Explosives, and Poison! Oh My!

I wake up in the middle of the night to the feeling of a hand gently petting my groin and a nose being rubbed against mine.

"Cheza, we can't tonight. You have training in the morning and you need some sleep," I tell her and then she licks the side of my face.

"No really, Cheza. You need to get some sleep," I insist as she continues licking my face.

"Stop licking my face and stroking my crotch and go to bed!" I sternly say as she starts rubbing her nose against mine again.

"Cheza, why is your nose so cold?" I ask as I open my eyes and see an adorable white face... an adorable, white, _furry_ face.

"AHHHHHH!" I scream, causing both girls to freak out as I flip my bedside light on. I see a full-grown Arctic fox is what has been licking my face and its tail is what has been stroking my crotch.

"COLE!? WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING!?... oh, did I forget to mention Kita?" Natasha asks.

"YES YOU FORGOT TO MENTION IT!" I shout. The fox recoils back and narrows its deep blue eyes.

"Forgot to mention her?" I correct uncertainly. Kita licks my face in the affirmative, I think.

"Well, this is Kita. Kita, this is Cole and Chezarei," Natasha introduces us.

"Where did Kita come from?" I ask.

"There's a small tunnel in my closet that leads to a small fox hole, which leads to the surface. Now let's go back to sleep. Just push Kita off of the bed if she is bothering you, Cole," Natasha says as she turns over.

I pick Kita up and then she gives me this begging look with her cute, slender, face pointed down and her big eyes looking up at me. I set Kita back down next to me and lay my head down as Kita snuggles into my side and falls asleep.

****

I wake up to a tongue in my mouth. I open my eyes and see a pair of deep blue, almond-shaped eyes staring back at me. I'm still in Natasha's bed, but the room has disappeared, as have Natasha and Cheza. It's just the bed floating in a dark space with this girl.

'This has to be a dream.' I think as the girl breaks away from our kiss.

The girl that has been kissing me is a beautiful Inuit girl with long black hair, but something isn't quite right about her. The girl mounts me and starts riding me when I realize what's off: this girl has white ears sticking up out of her head and a long, white, bushy tail.

The girl rides me until we both finish, at which point she collapses on top of me.

"You remind me of Kiviuq," The girl whispers in my ear.

****

[June 4th]

I awaken to a small furry face licking my cheek and an otherwise empty bed. I'm guessing that this furry face is what influenced my dream last night, but what was it that the girl had said at the end? Something about Kiviuq... the Inuit folk hero?

"Good morning, Kita. Did you sleep well?" I ask.

Kita nods in response. Damn this fox is smart! I get out of bed and use the bathroom. I open up the shower door, step inside, and I'm about to turn the shower on when I hear scratching at the glass door.

"Oh so you want to take a shower with me, do you?" I inquire.

Kita paws the glass once in response. I open the glass door and Kita slinks inside. I turn the shower on and get it to a luke-warm temperature before spraying Kita with it. She scrunches up her face at first, but quickly relaxes.

"I've never bathed a fox before... do I use shampoo and conditioner on your coat?" I ask, not really expecting an answer, but Kita nods in response.

I take the shampoo bottle, squirt some into my hand, and show it to her for confirmation. Kita nods again so I start rubbing the shampoo into her coat, causing her to shiver slightly. Once her coat is well lathered, I rinse her off. I get confirmation on the conditioner and repeat. She starts making a slight cooing noise as I rub the conditioner in. If I were anyone else, I'd probably find that getting instruction on bathing a fox from said fox is a little bizarre; however, I am not anyone else, so I don't find this situation to be all that bizarre compared to the rest of my fucked up existence.

I finish my necessary shower procedure and step out to towel off. I grab another towel for Kita, but she shakes her head. I grab the hairdryer from the long sink countertop and show it to her. Kita nods and I turn the dryer on. After Kita is dry, I get dressed and fully armed, and then Natasha walks in with a platter of food.

"Hey! I was hoping you would be awake. I brought breakfast!" Natasha announces.

"Thanks!" I reply while grabbing a cheese Danish from the platter. "So what's the plan for today?"

"I'm not too sure, but it probably isn't the best idea to stay around here because Jorgen is most likely gunning for you," Natasha says.

"Hmm... want to come with me to test out some explosives?" I ask.

"Hell yeah!" Natasha exclaims.

"Great... do you know... a spot... that would be... good for that?" I ask while eating my Danish.

"Anywhere in the center of Greenland should work nicely. The ice is thicker there so you shouldn't have to worry about the ice cracking or anything like that," Natasha suggests.

"Sounds perfect! I'll just look up a picture and then we can get going. Oh, and bring the food with us," I say as I pull out my phone.

"Alright let's get going! Bye Kita, we will be back later," I add.

Kita gives me a sad look, then nods and trudges over to the bed where she curls into a ball. I port us to the picture and see tundra stretched out before us in all directions. I take out one of my Diamond swords to grind a small hole into the ice before opening my ring and slicing into my left palm. Once finished, I transmute the colorless crystal explosive that is used in C-4 called RDX by using the same components of my blood that I used to make the nitroglycerine. I wedge the crystal into the hole and drip some of my blood onto the crystal. I look back and see that Natasha is about fifteen feet away. I take a few steps back and then I transmute my blood into nitrogen triiodide.

'I probably should have taken a few more steps back,' I think as I lie on my back with my ears ringing while I see a puff of red smoke rising from the hole. That puff of smoke gives me an awesome idea for a smoke bomb. I see Natasha standing over me and saying something, but I cannot hear her.

(That is because you have two perforated eardrums)

"Airi says I have two perforated eardrums," I say... or possibly shout. Natasha says something.

"Slow down! If you speak slowly I may be able to read your lips!" I say/shout.

(She is saying 'we need to get you to Pinga')

"Airi, how much time until my eardrums are healed?"

(Three hours in the current situation. Ears are difficult to heal. Requesting the assistance of the goddess is not a bad idea)

"Alright, I'm porting us back to your room!" I say/shout.

Natasha grabs my hand and I port us to her room. Kita perks up the second we come back and looks at me like she's concerned. Natasha drags me out of her room and Kita follows us. I get dragged down a series of corridors and into a large ice chamber where Pinga and Cheza are making things out of the ice. Cheza sees me and starts talking in a very animated fashion while looking quite excited before her expression changes to one of concern. I assume Natasha explained the situation because Pinga walks over and places both of her hands over my ears. Pinga's hands are cold until they suddenly start radiating warmth, my vision blurs, and the ringing in my ears intensifies as my hearing returns.

"Are you back with us, Cole?" Pinga asks.

"Yeah, my hearing is as good as new. Thanks!" I reply.

"Good. So what have we learned?" Pinga inquires.

"Don't detonate the chemical they use to make C-4 when you are only two feet from it?" I ask.

"Good boy. No more explosives for today," Pinga replies.

"Hey Cole! Using my powers is so much easier here! Look what I can do!" Cheza exclaims as she touches the ground and pulls out a three foot long icicle. "I'm an icebender!"

"Haha! That's pretty awesome, Cheza!" I tell her.

"It's actually somewhat amazing that her abilities were able to manifest at all in places as warm as Hawaii and Arizona. She shouldn't have much of a problem learning to control her powers here," Pinga says.

"That's great! Well, since I won't be playing with anymore explosives today, why don't you show me around, Natasha?" I suggest.

"Alright, we'll see you guys later!" Natasha exclaims and leads me out of the large chamber.

Kita scampers up my back and lies across my shoulders while Natasha starts showing me around the gigantic underground snow elf compound.

"Wait, so this entire place was built by snow elves with powers like Cheza?" I ask.

"Yeah. Any pure blood snow elf has at least some control over snow and ice. Those that are half Inuit, half snow elf have about a fifty percent chance at developing abilities. Those that are like me... well, Chezarei is the only one I know of that has developed abilities," Natasha explains, sounding a little downtrodden.

"Natasha, I could help you with that. If I were to give you some of my blood, it might be able unlock your latent ability," I suggest.

"Thanks, but no thanks, Cole. I'd rather not be connected to you like that. Even though Chezarei was fine with sharing you for the wedding and for sex, I doubt she would approve of sharing you that intimately," Natasha says.

"I hadn't even thought about that... she would probably be pretty pissed," I reply.

I nearly fall over when ice suddenly wraps around my feet and shins. Two elves drop from the ceiling and grab both of my arms while Kita jumps from my shoulders and runs off.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Natasha screams.

"I'm getting my revenge for last night!" Alex exclaims while stepping out from an alcove as I notice that his arm is in a sling.

"STOP BEING SUCH AN ASSHOLE!" Natasha shouts.

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID HALFBREED BITCH!" Alex screams as he backhands Natasha to the ground. Now I'm angry.

"You may have caught me off guard last night, but not today!" Alex exclaims.

Using his unbroken arm, Alex unzips my jacket. I could easily break the grip of the two guys holding me, but I'm curious to see what he does. Alex doesn't seem to be armed so at least I don't have to worry about getting shot. He puts his hand on my chest and I immediately feel my skin cooling down through my t-shirt.

"What are you doing!? Ahhhh!" I shout in mock panic that is so poorly done that even I don't believe it.

His burn feels like an ice cube compared to what Cheza can do. A smug smile starts across Alex's face as I continue my mock screaming. I'm just waiting until the burn cracks my skin open to give him a surprise.

(Objective met)

"Ahhh—hahaha! Is that really the best you've got? Now it's my turn," I say with a smile.

"What the hell is this supposed to be?" Alex asks as he looks at the small sphere in his hand that happens to be made of RDX that contains my blood inside of it.

My helmet wraps around my head and I transmute my blood into nitrogen triiodide while snapping my fingers for effect. The ball explodes in a large puff of red smoke and Alex starts screaming. The distraction is enough for me to break from the grasps of the two elves holding me, cut my way out of the ice, scoop Natasha up, and port us to where Cheza and Pinga are.

"Cole! Are you alright?" Cheza asks with concern.

"That was totally awesome, Cole!" Natasha exclaims as I set her down.

"Thanks. I got the idea when I saw the giant puff of smoke that the nitrogen triiodide made earlier and last night I was thinking how it would be useful to have smoke bombs. Yes, I'm fine, Cheza, and sorry about disobeying your 'no more explosives' order, Pinga," I say.

"What happened?" Pinga asks as she walks over to Natasha and puts her hands over Natasha's bleeding lip and swollen cheek.

"Alex felt it necessary to try and get revenge for last night so he had two elves restrain me while he tried to freeze me. I waited until he burned through my skin and then I formed a ball of C-4 in his hand. Inside of the ball was nitrogen triiodide which creates a sizeable cloud of red smoke so I essentially made a smoke bomb. Oh, and his hand is probably a mess... or it might just gone," I explain.

"Eh, don't worry about it. He deserved it anyway. You two should probably go back to Natasha's room and take Kita with you. She scampered in barking about ten seconds before you arrived," Pinga says as Kita slinks out from behind her. Kita's ears are flat and she looks ashamed overall.

"It's okay. I know that you did the best you could," I tell Kita as I pick her up. She licks my face once in response, but still looks slightly ashamed.

I port Natasha, Kita, and myself back to Natasha's room where we just hangout and watch TV for a few hours. Natasha announces that she is hungry and leaves to go get some food. Cheza comes back while she is gone and we make small talk until Natasha comes back with a cart that carries three, covered plates. We all eat dinner, watch TV for a while, and go to bed.

...

[June 5th]

That night, I had another dream about the fox-girl. I wake up the next morning to find Kita asleep on my chest. I gently move her off of me and go to the bathroom. I shower, get dressed, and exit the bathroom to find Natasha eating on the couch. I sit down next to her and eat as well.

"So I need to run some more explosive experiments today. Are you in?" I ask while finishing my omelet.

"Sure, but let's keep the ear perforation to a minimum today," Natasha says with a smile.

"Haha definitely! I just need to quickly port home to grab a notebook, pencil, tape measure, and... I think that's it," I say.

"Well, if that's all, I can just fetch that stuff for you," Natasha replies and walks over to her desk, digs through the drawers, and pulls out the things I need. "Ready to go?"

I nod and port us to the field from yesterday. Natasha moves back about thirty feet and I engage my helmet. I start the day's experiments by making the same smoke ball that I did yesterday. I measure the ball, finding that it is 2.5 centimeters in diameter. I throw the ball at the ground and I disappear within a cloud of smoke. When the smoke dissipates, I measure the resulting crater from the explosion: 15 centimeters.

"Airi, how much blood did it take to make that?"

(0.1 Liters)

I decrease the size of the next ball to 1 centimeter, which results in a 6 centimeter crater.

(0.04 Liters)

So it appears that the smoke balls have a resulting crater that is six times their size and use up one tenth of a liter per ball. I record all of this information in the notebook and then I move on to experiments using solid RDX.

I'm able to determine that at least five milliliters of nitrogen triiodide per centimeter of spherical crystal RDX is needed to detonate it, the crater ratio is 1:20, and 0.1 liters per centimeter is needed to make RDX.

"Alright, I'm starting to feel my blood loss now so let's call it a day," I tell Natasha. We port back to her room where we watch a movie.

"Let's go get something to eat!" Natasha proclaims when the movie is over. I look at the clock and see that it's already dinner time anyway.

"Sure," I reply while shrugging my shoulders.

I follow Natasha to the dining hall that must be exclusively for the head family because I've never been so instantaneously despised upon entering a room before. I just keep my head down and follow Natasha over to a servant who already has cart waiting, and we wheel the cart out of the hall.

"It looks like this will be over soon!" I hear someone say as we are heading down a corridor and away from the dining hall.

"Hey Airi, does my blood make me resistant to poisons?"

(Yes it does. Any damage a poison will do to your stomach will be repaired and the poison will be consumed by your blood after it automatically forms a chemical compound to neutralize the poison)

Natasha and I get back to the room to find Cheza waiting.

"YAY! Food!" Cheza exclaims as we come in.

"Sorry Cheza, but I'll be eating all of this. Where do you guys want me to get food from?" I ask.

"What? Why?" Natasha asks.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure that all of the plates are poisoned," I blatantly reply.

"How do you know that?" Natasha questions.

"I uh, heard some guy say 'it looks like this will be over soon'," I inform them.

"Then why are you eating it!?" Cheza frantically asks.

"To throw them off. They will see that we are still alive after eating dinner, probably try poisoning breakfast or dinner tomorrow, and when we are still alive after all of their attempts, they will stop trying... or that's the plan at least. Airi tells me that I'm resistant to poison so I'll be completely unharmed! So where shall I fetch my mistresses' dinner from?" I inquire.

...

Chapter 36: Good Times with Explosives

[June 6th]

I had another fox-girl dream last night. I taste test the food that Natasha brings for breakfast and Airi tells me that it isn't poisoned. I run more explosives experiments, but today's experiments are on ONC: Crater ratio is 1:30, 0.15 liters per centimeter, and five milliliters of nitrogen triiodide per centimeter is necessary to detonate it. Natasha and I head back and proceed to lounge around for a few hours until Cheza gets back. All three of us go to get the dinner cart when Cheza returns. I taste test the food and Airi tells me that the amount of poison has quadrupled from last night. After dinner, the girls make wedding plans while I go to bed.

...

[June 7th]

Once again, another fox-girl dream. I'm tempted to just toss Kita out of the bed to see if the dreams stop, but it's like she knows what I'm going to do and makes that begging face until I set her back down. I look on the bedside table and see a note that reads:

Cole, I'm going with Cheza today so that we can plan for the wedding while she's training. -Natasha

Looks like I'm flying solo for today's experiments. I take a shower and port to the laboratory. Today's experiments will be using Octaazacubane. I form a crystal sphere in the palm of my hand.

(0.15 Liters)

Using the same amount of blood as ONC indicates that nitrogen is the limiting reactant when I form explosives. I drop the crystal onto the ice and walk away before I realize that I forgot to drip some blood onto it so I turn around...

...and I wake up in Natasha's bed.

"COLE!" Cheza screams to my right.

"Looks who's back with the living! How are you feeling buddy?" Natasha asks from her spot near Cheza. I see that Pinga is also in the room.

"What in the hell happened?" I ask.

"Well, you are going to have to tell us that, but by the state your legs were in, I'd say a big ass bomb went off a few feet from you," Natasha replies

"I was able to heal them, but I couldn't do anything about your penis..." Pinga says.

"It's okay, Cole. We still love you! Chezarei and I might just have sex without you from now on..." Natasha adds.

"WHAT!?" I scream over Natasha as I make a mad grab for my crotch.

"Because I didn't need to," Pinga finishes.

"Although Chezarei and I will most likely still include you," Natasha says.

"Cole? What happened?" Cheza asks before I can yell at Pinga and Natasha.

"I'm not sure... I was testing explosives like I have the past few days. I don't understand what could have happened. I didn't detonate it and the chemical should have been stable—" I say before Airi interrupts.

(Metastable)

"What do you mean, metastable?" I ask aloud.

Airi displays the Wikipedia page from my memory and right at the top is says that Octaazacubane isn't thermodynamically stable.

"Oh... it looks like I screwed up a little bit. The chemical became unstable when it touched the ice and exploded on its own," I explain.

"How much did you use?" Natasha asks.

"The same amount as the past few days: a spherical crystal that was one centimeter in diameter," I tell her.

"Cole... that crater was almost two feet wide," Natasha informs me.

Well, it looks like that one is a winner if I can figure some way to make it stable, but for right now, I'm going to have to rely on ONC.

"Alright well we should probably get something for dinner," Pinga says.

"What? How long was I out!?" I ask.

"You were unconscious for nearly six hours," Cheza informs me.

"Shit... sorry, it looks like I ruined an entire day of training for you," I say.

"Don't worry about it. We were able to finish a lot of planning for the wedding so it panned out alright," Pinga informs me.

"Well, that's good, I guess. I'm starving so let's go get—" I say as I stand out of bed and subsequently fall to the ground.

"Cole!" Cheza exclaims as she helps me up. "We'll go get dinner while you stay here and let your legs heal."

Cheza tucks me in and then she, Pinga, and Natasha leave the room. Kita jumps up on the bed and snuggles into my side.

"Well, at least you're here," I quietly say as I pet Kita.

(I'm always with you, Master)

"Haha, that is true, Airi!" I say aloud.

Cheza and Natasha come back with food and I do my taste test for poison: it's clean. It looks like my hypothesis was correct. We eat and watch a movie in bed, and then we go to sleep.

****

That night, the vixen shows up in my dreams again, but there is a slight difference this time. Mid-coitus, the fox-girl stops and starts speaking.

"Cole, you need to wake up. There is a problem with Natasha!" the fox-girl says and then she bites my earlobe.

****

[June 8th]

I jolt awake and find Kita biting my ear.

"Ow!" I sharply say to Kita.

Kita narrows her eyes at me in response and looks to my left. I look over to find Natasha breathing heavily and sweating profusely. I gently caress her cheek and her eyes snap open.

"Cole! The base is going to come under attack in less than an hour. Roughly three hundred werewolves, some with automatic weapons. Make sure you wear your armored pants!" Natasha exclaims.

"How many snow elf soldiers are there?" I ask as I feel Cheza wake up.

"Around one hundred, but twenty of them are currently out of commission and the majority of those twenty are squad leaders!" Natasha answers while panicking slightly.

"I'll get ready. Can you find me some plastic bottles or glass jars? Anything that is easy to throw and re-sealable. I need you to tell Jorgen to get any soldiers together, give them automatic weapons, and have them on standby in the tunnel. He should also have a two foot thick wall of ice constructed in front of the door so that the soldiers won't take fire when coming out. I need several pillars of ice constructed for cover as well. My plan is to create a large smoke screen and use the smoke screen as cover to mow down the werewolves with the Obliterator," I explain. Natasha nods, gets dressed, and hurries out of the room.

"What's going on, Cole?" Cheza asks.

"We are about to come under attack by about three hundred werewolves, and I'm going out there to stop them," I explain as I get out of bed and walk over to my luggage.

I search through my luggage, only to discover that I didn't bring my armored jeans so I quickly put on some normal jeans—I'll just have to be careful. I notice Cheza starting to get dressed in her armored jacket, which is a good idea, but I get the feeling that she isn't putting it on a precaution so much as battle attire.

"Cheza, I need you to stay here. You have little combat experience and you aren't gaining that experience against three hundred opponents," I tell her.

"Cole! I can't let you go out there alo—" Cheza exclaims before I interrupt her with a kiss.

"I'll be just fine, I promise, but I need you to be safe, Cheza," I explain.

"Okay, Cole..." Cheza quietly replies.

"Thank you, Cheza," I say before I kiss her again.

Natasha runs back into the room while out of breath.

"Alright, Jorgen said that he'd have the soldiers ready, Pinga is constructing the pillars and wall right now, and I couldn't find any bottles, but Pinga said that Chezarei should be able to help with that," Natasha says once her breath returns to her.

"Alright. Cheza, let's port to the area where you've been training," I tell her as I grab her hand and touch my triskele.

"Okay, I need you to construct a basin that is a foot in diameter and two feet high. This is going to be a test of your control because I need you to cool my blood so that the ice won't melt, which in turn would dilute my blood, but not enough to freeze it," I say and Cheza nods with a determined look.

Cheza squats down, presses her hand against the ice, and closes her eyes. About fifteen seconds later, the ice begins to respond to her and thirty seconds after that, a basin grows from the ice like a tree.

"Good work, Cheza! In between the time when you are cooling down my blood, I need you to construct five bottles that are three inches in diameter and six inches tall. These ones don't need caps. I also need you to construct four more bottles that are two inches in diameter and four inches tall. These ones need caps," I explain as I slice open my left arm with my ring and drain a half liter into the basin. Cheza gives another determined nod in response.

Cheza cools down my blood, showing masterful control over her power as she creates the bottles simultaneously. I fill up the first container and port to the entrance of the complex. I see that Pinga has already set up a wall and the four pillars, which are equally spaced across the natural basin and parallel with the wall. I pull out my Diamond sword, grind a hole into the ice in front of the leftmost pillar, and place the first cylinder in the hole. I port back to see that Cheza has finished all of the containers. I drain more blood, fill the bottle, port to the front, place the bottle, and port back. I repeat that sequence three more times, and when I'm finished the containers make an X that spans the width of the bowl. In the center canister, I drop a spherical crystal of ONC that is seven centimeters in diameter.

I return to Cheza as Natasha runs in breathless.

"Cole... they reached... the bottom checkpoint!" Natasha gasps out.

"Looks like it's show time. Don't worry, Cheza. I'll be careful," I reassure her and then I port out to the battlefield, a little disappointed that I don't have enough time to fill up the canisters that I was going to use for grenades.

Chapter 37: Havoc and the Farm Animals of War

I take out my gun and equip the silencer before holstering it and whipping out the Obliterator. I take cover behind a pillar and expand my hearing to listen for their footsteps. About five minutes later, I hear the crunch of the snow and ice under the weight of the approaching werewolves. I engage my helmet and listen for the majority of the force to enter the large X and for the front guys to reach the line that the two closest blood cylinders make. I snap my fingers and I feel the explosion caused by the ONC that is over thirty feet away, which is understandable when the seven foot crater is taken into consideration. Since there aren't any fragments to cause injury, this explosive acts like a concussion grenade. It most likely just killed anyone within ten feet of it and perforated the eardrums of most of the werewolves, which is exactly what I was counting on.

I poke my head around the corner while listening to the beautiful screams of havoc. The frontline is freaking out and trying to figure out what is happening as I step out from cover. I whip the Obliterator from left to right, severing the heads of five werewolves. I continue whipping the Obliterator back and forth while spinning every so often to add extra centrifugal force into my attacks. I notice that a few of the werewolves are in wolf form so I start hitting lower so that my attacks don't sail over them, whose heads only reach chest level.

The smokescreen from the nitrogen triiodide is doing its job perfectly and the werewolves never know what's hitting them. I'm making pretty quick work of them, killing multiple enemies with each swing as the snow and ice become red with blood and the sweet smell of hysteria fills the air. My line up of werewolves was perfect training for this as they are never in groupings of more than five, which is about the max number that I can cut through consistently.

The psychological effect of hearing your comrades dying and not being able to see what is killing them is having a fantastic effect. I'd say that the amount of friendly fire has accounted for a quarter of the total deaths; however, it also results in me getting nailed in the chest with three 5.56mm rounds from a Steyr AUG A3. I continue slicing, dicing, and ripping through the werewolves, but I run into some issue once they are roughly down to half of their number.

I take half of a dozen 7.62mm rounds to each of my thighs. I look where they were fired from and see a small squad equipped with thermal-vision goggles and FN FAL rifles with fifty-round box magazines. Knowing when I'm beaten, I make a tactical retreat behind the second pillar on the right as quickly as possible; however, my thighs are so torn to shit that I end up ripping the muscles just making it to cover, which effectively immobilizes me behind the pillar. The small squad starts advancing on my position.

"HEY SNOW ELF GUYS! A LITTLE HELP!?" I shout towards the door only to sense absolutely nobody down that tunnel.

Okay, I'm pretty fucked, but I'm not out yet. I still have one hundred WFNGC rounds, which should allow me to buy enough time for my legs to heal. I'm glad I had the forethought to attach the silencer so that the other werewolves won't be alerted to my position. I pull out my gun and quickly double tap each of the five thermal-vision equipped werewolves before a few bizarre occurrences take place: a large chunk of the ice pillar explodes, the basin echoes thunder throughout it, and it feels like a small meteorite has hit the left side of my chest.

"COLE!" Cheza screams in my mind as I feel her enter her Drive state.

I look down and see an inch worth of metal sticking out of my jacket, over my heart.

"Airi, status."

(The impact was too strong for the kinetic energy to be dispersed throughout the jacket. Four ribs over your heart are shattered, bone fragments have punctured your left lung and aorta, and the bullet has pierced your pulmonary artery)

"COOOLE!" Cheza screams from the door as I feel the temperature around me drop.

Suddenly, all shooting stops and screams of intense panic move across the battlefield in waves. I peek around the corner, and I find that all of the werewolves closest to me have been frozen solid and the ones across the field are still freezing. Cheza sprints forward, jumps, spins in midair, and drives the edge of her right foot into the ice as she slides with her landing. The edge of her foot shoots hundreds of shards of ice that shatter each werewolf on impact. I imagine that this is what Sub-Zero's fatality would look like against one hundred opponents.

I have never been so turned on in my life... is that weird? Cheza looks back at me with a slightly embarrassed smile that tells me she knows what I was thinking and that she is out of her Drive state.

A man that is approximately six and a half feet tall with shoulder blade length, silver hair winging out in so many places that it has a spiky appearance, and maniacal steel-blue eyes, sprints up behind Cheza.

"Cheza, look out!" I think, but I'm not quick enough.

After a crack to the base of her skull that is so fast that I can barely see it, Cheza collapses to the ground. Fenrir scoops her up, throws her over his shoulder, and takes a long look at me.

"Hehe, too easy! I'll just be taking my daughter with me now. It's interesting how quickly children grow up if you take your eyes off of them... Anyway, send Jorgen my regards!" Fenrir chuckles and runs off with Cheza at an insane speed.

Daughter... DOES THIS MEAN I HAD SEX WITH MY ACTUAL SISTER!?

...

Chapter 38: Into the Abyss will I run...

I jolt awake in Natasha's bed. Kita is curled up beside me and my helmet isn't engaged.

"AHH... Oh! It was just a nightmare! Thank the Gods!" I exclaim. Kita gives me this pitying look that shakes me to my core before I realize that Pinga and Natasha are giving me the same look, then all I feel is dread.

"Send Jorgen my regards!"

I feel a restraint inside me break. I stand out of bed and put on some clothes. Pinga and Natasha advance to stop me, but I halt them both with a single raised hand. I slice both of my hands open, and flash out of Natasha's room and toward the dining hall. I stop outside the doors, realizing that the distance to Natasha's room is indeed farther than one hundred meters, and I hear laughter coming from inside. I throw the doors open and step in.

"Ah! Cole! We were just talking about you!" Jorgen exclaims with a devious glint to his eyes. I see that Alex and his mother have the same look.

I look around the room and I see that, luckily for me, there are no servants or children in the room; however, it is not so lucky for the head family or Jorgen. I flash forward and spear my hand into Jorgen's stomach. Jorgen groans out in pain as the rest of the family starts panicking.

"Fenrir sends his regards," I whisper into his ear while I form a seven centimeter crystal of Octaazacubane. _(4.9 Liters)_

"You assholes took her from me... fuck you all," I quietly state and I port back to Natasha's room.

"Cole? What did you d—" Natasha starts to ask until she is cut short by the massive explosion that can be felt from her room.

"Fenrir took Cheza. Jorgen was in league with Fenrir. The majority of the head family is dead. I'm going after Cheza," I say in short, concise, sentences that are devoid of emotion. "And she may be my real, half-sister. That dilemma can be solved after I retrieve her."

"What do you mean, she may be your half-sister?" Natasha inquires.

"The werewolf I interrogated, the driver of the first SUV that ambushed us, insinuated that I was Fenrir's son and Fenrir called Cheza his daughter when he took her," I quickly explain.

"Do you even know where Fenrir is?" Natasha asks.

"Ilulissat," I reply, somehow knowing that for certain, most likely through my connection with Cheza.

"Specifically, the concrete structures on the cape," I say and touch my triskele before either of them can add anything.

I find myself about half of a mile away from the concrete structures. On top of each of the three concrete structures, there are several people moving slightly. They must be snipers and I'm willing to bet that each of them is equipped with a .50 caliber anti-material rifle. After engaging my helmet, I watch to get a feel for the number of personnel while slowly advancing, thankful for the aurora borealis. The only light is that being radiated by the aurora borealis, which reflects off of the snow and ice, causing moving reflections, which makes for the perfect situation for moving without being noticed.

From what I observed of Fenrir's physical prowess, I am completely outclassed in speed and most likely strength. Didn't he have a weakness in the Prose Edda? Fenrir: wolf, child of Loki and a frost giantess (maybe I could force him to slip up with some 'Yo momma's ass was sooooo blue' jokes), was prophesized to kill Odin to initiate Ragnarok, bit off Tyr's hand... wait, didn't he bite off Tyr's hand during a challenge to see if he was stronger than a silk rope, but the challenge was actually a trick to allow the Norse gods to bind Fenrir? I also recall something about him being gagged with a sword so that he couldn't gnaw on the rope without pushing the sword into his brain.

Based on that story, it's obvious that he is rather conceited and thinks that he's the strongest; additionally, that he can't say no to a challenge... perhaps this will allow me to get in close with the Mu-cutter because he won't perceive me as a threat.

Now that I'm closer, I can feel Cheza's presence in the central structure. From what I've seen, this place is practically a fortress. The cape makes for a naturally defendable position that is incredibly difficult to attack from the rear because of the fifty-foot cliff into the frigid arctic waters. Five snipers on the first building all face the front of the cape, the five on the central rooftop are dispersed evenly to have a full circle of coverage, and the five on the far structure are dispersed to cover the 270 degrees of water. In addition to the snipers, there are roughly thirty heavily armed soldiers around each structure. I'm going to have to take out the snipers first or it will just be a repeat of earlier today.

"Airi, do those structures look to be more than one hundred meters apart?"

(Yes, they do appear to be, Master. 5.8 Liters)

Alright, now that I have a plan and my blood level is back up to full, it's about time that I started this.

With the suppressor attached to my gun, I slice into each of my wrists using my rings and port to the roof of the center structure. I fire a WFNGC round into the skull of each sniper on the central rooftop. Before the first body has a chance to fall, I port to the far structure, rinse, and then I repeat for the front rooftop as well. When the slide clicks back, I realize how stupid I've been and how lucky I just was. I had forgotten to reload after the five thermal-vision equipped werewolves earlier this afternoon. I am really glad that I conserved my ammo this time around or I might've just taken a few holes in my chest.

I peek over the edge of the rooftop and see that the soldiers on the ground are none-the-wiser about the elimination of the snipers. After sitting on the roof for several minutes while trying to figure out how to proceed into the building, the answer comes to me. I start up the Mu-cutter _(4.3 Liters)_ and stab it into the roof, before slowly spinning in a circle. I plummet through the roof to the third floor.

Slight problem, there is no third floor... there isn't even a second floor for that matter. I ride a two-foot thick slab of concrete down thirty feet, landing on the ground floor in a cloud of grey dust. I start coughing as I try to get my bearings.

"How delightful of you to drop in! Would you like an appletini?" Fenrir asks me from his chair that is approximately thirty feet to my left.

Fenrir is currently sipping a viscous-looking, bright green liquid from a martini glass, while wearing footy-pajamas with a hood that makes him look like a wolf... you have got to be fucking kidding me! How in the hell do I compete with that level of crazy!?

"Why, of course, father! I would love one!" I exclaim with only a minimal amount of venom. This may give me the perfect opportunity to catch him unawares.

I see a gagged Cheza that is chained to the wall in front of me, about fifteen feet away, looking stunned by what I referred to Fenrir as.

"Cheza! Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" I think.

"No, I'm alright, Cole. He just withdrew a vial of my blood, stuffed the vial in a DHL box, and took it someplace," Cheza replies.

"Alright, I'll have you out of here in a second," I respond.

"Cole, why did you call Fenr—" Cheza starts to ask.

"It seems that you are under a misconception. I'm not your father; however, I am Chezarei's. My father told me that he needed the blood of a great wolf and a snow elf to initiate his plan. It was a rather simple task to cloak myself as that elf's husband, implant my seed in her, and leave before the husband returned," Fenrir says while mixing my drink with the precision of a bomb maker that still has all of his fingers.

"THANK THE GODS! Now I don't have to worry about patricide, or incest, or having a sick fuck that raped a little girl as my father!" I shout.

"Their faces as they were ripped to shreds protecting my daughter from the pack of hungry werewolves without having any idea about what she really was... SO PRICELESS! It was the kind of picture that Kodak would use for their advertisements!" Fenrir exclaims as he finishes the drink.

I start to shake as I feel tears fall from Cheza's face. Something inside me is begging me to allow it to annihilate this bastard, and I think I'm about to honor its request.

"Fenrir... I would just like to thank you... for making me look sane," I say through gritted teeth as I watch the aura around my blade turns black.

"NOW DIE YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I shout.

"COLE! LOOK OUT!" Cheza screams through our connection as I launch myself at him.

I get within ten feet of him when he blurs to the side and I'm hit from six different directions simultaneously. I look down and see six icicles sticking into my torso, each approximately two inches in diameter and three feet long. Four of the icicles have been run through me horizontally and two have been thrust diagonally downward, through the tops of my shoulders.

"COOOOOOOOOLE!" Cheza screams in my mind and against her gag as I slump to my knees.

Fenrir was able to project those spears with the same amount of force as anti-material rifle bullets. I am so insanely outclassed on this one...

"Thanks to the injection that Father gave me before he sent me on my mission to create the girl, you can't even come close to my ability. By the way, do you know what is just FANTASTIC at teaching someone about humility and how to control their emotions? Being tied to a rock for millennia with a sword digging into the roof of your mouth!" Fenrir exclaims.

I forgot one of the cardinal rules of combat: frontal assaults are only useful when your enemy is both weak and stupid. I can usually offset the weakness factor for surprise, but I learned the hard way with Aengus that it doesn't always work out. One wrong move with Aengus and I would have been killed, so why did I think a frontal assault would work with an opponent that is even stronger? Somewhere along the line, I forgot that my primary objective is rescuing Cheza. I easily could have used a smoke bomb for cover, cut through Cheza's bindings, and ported us out of here while Fenrir was mixing my drink, but I didn't. I was taunted into attacking. Fenrir has beaten me at my own game.

"Now here's what's going to happen! I'm going to force you to watch as I kill Chezarei and drain her of her blood. Father said that only one vial was necessary, but more can't hurt!" Fenrir monologues as he slowly transforms into a wolf that is roughly ten feet tall. I guess Sara didn't know that he could do that.

"Then I'm going to savor the look of resignation on your face when you realize that you can't do anything to stop me!" Fenrir exclaims before proceeding to cackle maniacally.

Can't do anything to stop him? Bullshit! There is always my last resort...

I lift my right hand and place it over my heart as I place my left hand over the blood that is running freely from my stomach.

"Sorry Cheza... it looks like I'm not immortal after all, heh—" I think and then chuckle aloud, causing me to cough up a fair amount of blood. "At least I can keep you safe."

"COLE! NO! YOU CAN'T!" Cheza screams in my mind as tears run freely down her face.

"I'm cashing in that favor now, Cheza. I... I want you to move on... I don't want you to look back at me with lingering attachment forever... I want you to be happy... with someone else," I tell her while trying to keep my own emotions in check.

"I don't know if I can promise that, Cole..." Cheza quietly thinks.

"All I need is for you to try... Please, don't make me worry," I plead as I form silicon carbide inside my heart to seal off the valves. I pump my heart as much as possible until the pressure builds to sufficient levels for amplification.

"Airi... this is my final order to you: keep Cheza safe."

(Yes Master, but this will not be your final order)

'Is she lying to me, or just to herself?' I wonder as I start to slam the hydrogen nuclei together to form helium nuclei.

"Goodbye, Cheza... and I apologize that this is the first time that I've said it, but I love you."

I look into Cheza's beautiful icy-blue eyes for the final time.

Chapter 39: Yes, I am Stricken and can't let You go

When I open my eyes, I see Cheza sitting outside. I look carefully and see that she hasn't moved, but the entire complex has been annihilated. Something on the floor glints in the exact spot that has Cheza's full attention as tears continue to stream down her cheeks. Cheza scoots herself over to the glint while on her knees, as I hear voices in the distance. Cheza lifts the glinting object to her eye level and I see that the glinting object is a silver ring with a blue gemstone that is cut like a five-petal lotus flower.

"Hurry up and grab the girl before The Faction arrives! My father still needs that vial of blood!" I hear behind me.

I turn and see a squad of twenty vampires being ordered by a man that has to be the ugliest fucker I've ever seen. He sort of looks like the movie rendition of Voldemort from Harry Potter, but more snake-like and with even less defined lips. This guy can only be Jormungandr. He must not know that Fenrir already obtained the vial. What a stereotypical stupid pretty-boy Jormungandr is!

Two vampires rush over to grab Cheza. I move to stop them and notice that I no longer have a body. I turn back around to look at Cheza in horror. She is just turning the band of the ring in her hand, seemingly unaware of the situation around her. The inscription on the band reads:

I will always love you, Cheza

The vampires grab each of her arms, which turns out to be the wrong move. Cheza's eyes shift as the whites of her eyes turn silver, leaving her irises their natural icy-blue color.

Cheza rears back and screams up at the sky. She slams both of her fists into the ground. The two vampires that are touching Cheza become flash frozen and shatter into meat cubes as ten foot spires of black ice erupt around her. Jormungandr and the eighteen other vampires are raised into the air with horrified expressions permanently frozen on their faces.

Cheza removes the ring I gave her an eternity ago (despite the fact that it has been less than a month) and slips the new ring on in its place. I watch Cheza's eyes glaze over as she turns into the living doll that she was ten years ago.

I float there next to Cheza for around fifteen minutes until Natasha and Pinga port to the epicenter of the ice-spire field. Natasha looks around for a moment, stunned by the spire field, and then she sees Cheza's state.

"Oh, Chezarei..." Natasha says as she drops to her knees and holds onto Cheza as a few tears drip down her cheeks.

When Natasha touches Cheza, the ice spires all shatter, along with the nineteen bodies that they hold. Tia, Sara, and Kira arrive about ten minutes later. Tia and Sara comprehend the situation the moment they get there. I see tears well up in their eyes, but they ruthlessly quell them before Cheza can take notice.

"Let's go home, Rei..." Sara quietly says as she helps Cheza to her feet.

"You should go as well, Natasha. Don't worry, I can handle everything," Pinga gently says.

Natasha sniffles and nods. Kira steps forward and puts her hands on Sara and Tia, who have their hands on Natasha and Cheza, and they port away.

"I think it's about time that we shifted you to the next plane, don't you think so, Cole?" Pinga asks as I recall that Pinga is also a psychopomp in Inuit mythos.

"Yes... I suppose it is," I quietly respond.

Considering that Cheza just took care of my mother's killer so I don't have to worry avenging my mother, there isn't any real reason for me to hang around.

"Kita, please show him the way to Adlivun," Pinga requests as Kita suddenly appears.

Kita trots to the edge of the cape and I float ethereally after her. When we reach the edge, the aurora borealis flares up and a green/blue light bridge that extends out from the cliff suddenly appears in front of us. It continues down into the frozen ocean as I float out onto it. I follow Kita along the bridge as we travel through the ice and deep into the ocean; after glancing behind me, I notice that the freezing of the ocean is following us downward. I keep thinking I'll see Rapture and little girls with huge hypodermic needles that they stab into dead bodies while being guarded by giant monsters in diving suits , but all I see are fish and a few seals that are fleeing the encroaching ice. The bridge leads straight into the ocean floor, but Kita just walks straight through it as the ground ripples (how a ripple like that can occur when we are underwater is beyond me). I follow her through the ocean floor and everything fades to black.

"Come on, Cole. It's this way," I hear a vaguely familiar female voice say as a warm hand entwines itself in mine to lead me.

The female voice guides me through the darkness for what feels like days. As I travel through the darkness, I sometimes get visions of happenings in the other realms.

"Lila... Ah'm sorry lass... Cole... he's dead," Dagda softly explains.

"No... you're lying... Cole can't be dead! He just can't be!" Lila exclaims as she breaks into tears. I see Colton hop into her lap, trying to comfort his upset mother before the vision fades away.

The next vision is several days later. It appears to be a funeral procession and only after I see Tia, Sara, Natasha, Lila, and Cheza do I realize that it's my funeral. Lila is bawling into Natasha's dress as Natasha tries really hard not to cry. The same goes for Tia and Sara, but they are slightly less successful. Seeing Cheza just breaks my heart. She is in the same doll-like state as I was at Jason's funeral. The only difference is that I'm unable to comfort her like she did for me six months ago.

"It's only a little further, Cole," the voice gently says and I suddenly realize that it is the voice of the fox-girl from my dreams... so that was Kita all along! She's Kiviuq's fox-wife from the Inuit legend... I think... at least that makes the most sense.

Approximately two days later, I receive a third vision. I see Cheza lying in my bed, wearing nothing but one of my white t-shirts as she cries into my pillow.

"I'm sorry, Cole... I'm sorry I didn't listen to you... I went outside... and now you're dead... because of me..." Cheza quietly cries.

I agonizingly watch as she reaches across my nightstand, grabs my switchblade, flings it open, and drags it across her wrists before she severs her femoral arteries on insides of her thighs, but she doesn't bleed.

"WHY!? WHY WON'T YOU LET ME BE WITH HIM, AIRI!?" Cheza bawls.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU PROMISED HIM! Just let me be with him... Please Airi!" Cheza begs.

Cheza presses the blade against her neck and drags it across, but she still won't bleed. This is the most painful thing I've ever experienced. I'm forced to watch Cheza's agony while knowing that I'm the cause of it and that there is nothing I can do about it.

"I can't take this... stop it... please... JUST MAKE IT STOP!" I scream as all of my senses fade into nothing.

[End of Book 2]

References

Have you come across something in this book and thought 'I know I've heard that before, but I can't remember where it's from'? Well that's what this section is for! I have painstakingly marked down every reference in this book that wasn't self-explanatory so that you don't have to wake up at 3am and shout "Got it!" when you finally remember.

1: Tom Cruise in _Tropic Thunder._

2: I'm told that it's what you need to dissolve a dead hooker in a bathtub. Something along those lines is also said by Mathew McConaughey to Ben Stiller after the panda incident in _Tropic Thunder_.

3: John Woo - Chinese director that is known for slow motion scenes that involve diving through the air whilst firing two guns and is also known for putting doves in his movies. He directed _Mission Impossible II_ and the movie _Hard Boiled_ , which was turned into a video game called _Stranglehold_.

4: _Kill Bill Vol. 1_ \- Lucy Liu

5: What's My Age Again? by Blink 182

6: _South Park_ Season 16 Episode 11 - "Going Native"

7: _Pirates of the Caribbean,_ pretty much any of them.

8: _Hitman:_ the video game franchise was adapted into a movie, wherein the main character is played by Timothy Olyphant.

9: _Dragon Ball Z_

10: _Click:_ the movie starring Adam Sandler about an architect that is given a remote by Christopher Walken that is supposed to make his life easier.

11: Parody of _Menace II Society_ on _The Boondocks_. Phrase is supposed to be used when someone is caught lying.

12: _The Heartbreak Kid_ starring Ben Stiller.

13: _South Park_ Season 8 Episode 11 - Quest for Ratings

14: _The Girl Next Door_ , the movie with Elisha Cuthbert and Emile Hirsch. Not to be confused with The Girls Next Door, the show about playboy bunnies.

15: _Archer_ Season 2 Episode 9 - Placebo Effect

16: _Get Him to the Greek_ starring Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, and Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs.

17: Scotty Doesn't Know by Lustra, theme song of _Eurotrip_. If you've never heard it, Google it because it's pretty hilarious. Note: if your name happens to be Scotty and you just found out that your girlfriend has been cheating on you, I wouldn't recommend listening to this song.

18: _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ \- the animated show that was on Nickelodeon, not the shitty M. Night Shyamalan movie.

19: In _Mortal Kombat,_ the character Sub-Zero is a ninja with ice-related abilities.

20: _Bioshock:_ video game that takes place in an underwater city called Rapture.

Acknowledgments

First, I'd like to acknowledge that there are some discrepancies in this story. I know that there is no night in Greenland in June and therefore no aurora borealis, but I had to either ignore that fact, change the timeline, or move the location to the southern hemisphere and use the aurora australis. I went with the option that didn't require major rewrites. The only reason I'm acknowledging this is because I assume that the vast majority of my readers are ignorant to the photon emissions caused by the ionization of nitrogen and oxygen atoms, or how the earth's tilt drastically affects daylight hours when closer to the poles. I don't want to be blamed for ruining someone's summer vacation by being the deciding factor for taking a trip to Greenland because of a misconception that auroras can be seen in June. You'd be better off going to Southern Australia for something like that.

I'd like to take the time to thank you, the readers. If you enjoyed this book, please tell your friends about it and write a review. The review doesn't have to be long or complex, just it being in existence helps me continue doing what I enjoy while providing some entertainment and a distraction from the lives of some who really need it. Indie authors thrive based on reviews from readers so I thank each and every one of you that takes the time to write one.

About the Author

A.L. Bridges was born and raised in Washington state. He currently resides in Phoenix Arizona and wonders why in the hell anyone decided to settle in the middle of the desert when it is so stupidly hot there.

A.L. Bridges is currently attending a university in Arizona, focusing on finishing his degree in biomedical sciences, and writing in his spare time.

Feel free to email him at albridgesauthor@gmail.com with comments, criticisms, or suggestions.

For updates on the latest books, visit http://albridges.blogspot.com

or follow him on Twitter @Albridgesauthor

Excerpt from _Feros and the Underworld Prince_

Chapter 1: Ooh, Foxey Lady

In my dreams, I see a beautiful silver haired girl with icy-blue eyes, but something about her makes my chest ache. She is playing with a tan skinned baby with brown hair and hazel eyes. There is light in the girl's eyes, but her face is emotionless. The ache in my chest intensifies.

"Cole..."

****

[September 5th]

"It's time to wake up, Cole," Kita coos in my ears. "Bacon, eggs, and toast are all prepared, but they will become cold if you don't eat them soon!"

I roll over and catch an eyeful of Kita's beautifully tan, naked backside as she wears the hell out of the lemon yellow apron that doesn't confine her bushy white tail. I stand out of bed and walk into the kitchen of Kita's small, one bedroom apartment. I look into Kita's deep blue, almond-shaped eyes and I give her a kiss good morning before sitting down to eat the breakfast that has been prepared for me.

"So, have you recalled anything about your past yet?" Kita asks while cleaning a pan.

"Not yet, but I promise that you will be the first to know!" I reply as I stuff an egg, half a slice of toast, and two strips of bacon into my mouth simultaneously.

It's an interesting story: about six months ago, I woke up naked in a grassy field without any clue where I was or how I'd gotten there. The only thing I could recall was my name: Cole Treyfair. Luckily for me, Kita had just been passing through that field when she noticed me looking perplexed. She brought me home and has allowed me to stay with her while I try to regain some of my lost memories. The only clues I have so far are the dark red bracelet that is stuck on my right wrist; the silver, three-swirl tattoo on my left shoulder blade; and the five-pointed silver tattoo on the back of my neck that resembles a crown.

Well, those and the reoccurring dream of the silver haired girl, but that isn't something I've told Kita about because I don't want to strain our relationship. Kita and I have grown close over the past six months. Our relationship has evolved into a physical one, we sleep in the same bed, stuff happens... I'll just leave it at that.

"I have to get going, but I should be home at around 4pm. What are you going to do?" Kita asks as she takes off her lemon yellow apron.

"I'll probably wander around the city for a little while and see if I can't find something that will jog my memory before work," I reply.

"Well, just be careful, Cole. I've been hearing some nasty rumors about a liche from the Irkalla district that recently appeared. Apparently he has taken over the local vampire gang," Kita replies. What can a Mesopotamian liche possibly want with a vampire gang?

"Don't worry, I will. Now you had better get going. Don't want to make the boss-lady mad, now do you?" I rhetorically ask.

"Nope!" Kita cheerfully says before she kisses me on the cheek.

"See you later!" She exclaims as she jumps up and does a double front flip. On the first rotation, she morphs into her fox form and on the second rotation, she disappears.

I read the paper while I finish my breakfast.

In otherworld news: The one kilometer stretch of the Arctic Ocean in and around Ilulissat Greenland has been frozen solid for its fifteenth consecutive month following the massive explosion that destroyed half of the small port town, an event that still has the leading experts baffled.

Ilulissat... that's a strange name.

Chapter 2: Déjà vu... DENZEL!?

I wash my dishes while admiring the green/blue sky that reflects off of the grey landscape outside the kitchen window. I walk into the bathroom, take a quick shower, and get dressed in a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, and a light grey hoodie. I lock up on my way out and proceed down the three flights of stairs to street level.

The streets are busy with various beings headed to their jobs, or perhaps just loitering around like me. I walk around for a few hours, trying to find something to jumpstart my memory in this world that is devoid of color with the exception of the sky. I'm told that the sky looks different in each district, but I've never been out of Adlivun.

I tend to enjoy my little walks around the district. There may not be much in the way of color, but the energy of the Underworld makes it a pleasant enough place to spend an afterlife, or just a regular life depending on who you are. Some people choose to skip their afterlife and fade out of existence immediately upon arriving. Other times, people are asked to pass on to make room for the more recently dead. I need to recover my memories before that happens, but since I can't remember how I got here, I'm not sure if I count among the dead or the living in the Underworld.

I head to the Casbar, which is only about six blocks from the apartment. The Casbar is a type of sports bar that displays the Citadel gladiator fights and also deals in gambling on said fights. I'm not much of a gambler, but I make decent money as a bartender and one of my few friends owns the place.

"Cole! How's that vixen of yours, eh? She seemed a little sore when she was leaving my place last night!" Jericho Archer jokes as I step inside the empty Casbar. Archer is the twenty-six year old demigod son of a South African man and a Mami Wata, an African goddess of beauty, water, and wealth.

"Haha, not as bad as your sister! She wasn't even able to get up out of my bed this morning!" I reply in similar fashion.

"Nice! Take a seat, the match is just starting. Rum and Coke?" Archer asks.

"Before work!? I'm not too sure if I can handle it, but if you insist, you are the boss!" I sarcastically exclaim as Archer mixes me a drink. I sit down and watch the match on a fifty-two inch LED screen.

It's a rookie qualifying match between a vampire and a centaur. Both of the fighters aren't very talented and they tire fairly quickly. It's starting to look like this match is going to end in a quick draw, but then the centaur jumps and kicks the vampire into the spike wall that surrounds the Citadel and divides the spectator stands from the battle grounds. The fame and fortune that comes with being a gladiator isn't always worth the price of the consequences, especially when dying in the Underworld causes you to fade out of existence, even if you were alive. There is no afterlife for those living in the Underworld.

"Ooh, looks like he's out. I swear, if it weren't for that championship brand that allows you to port to any district in the Underworld, no one would participate in these fights," Archer says.

"You are forgetting about the money, fame, and women," I remind him while finishing the drink that he handed me during the match.

"Well yeah, those too," Archer replies.

"Well, I'd better start doing something that is worthy of payment. Here's to my lost memories and the hopes that alcohol won't hinder my recovery of them, despite the massive amounts of empirical evidence that claims otherwise," I toast and finish my drink.

Just then, a blood covered Latina woman runs into the Casbar. She makes it about three steps before her legs collapse and she starts to fall to the ground. I rush over and catch her before she makes an impact. She's very pretty with straight, shoulder length, black hair, light blue eyes, a slim waist, and about 5'5" tall with a nice bust that is noticeable through her blood-soaked knit dress. I'm cradling her when she suddenly bites into the base of the left side of my neck and starts drinking my blood.

(5.6 Liters remaining. Concentrate your blood that is in her body and force her head to explode) a feminine voice inside my mind says.

"What!? Who are you?" I ask it. No response.

Archer grabs a gun from under the bar and takes aim, but I hold up my hand to stop him. I grab her shoulder and something inside her sings out to me.

"Sleep," I command and her body relaxes. That was pretty cool. I didn't know I could do that. I scoop her up, take her over to a booth, and lay her down. Five vampires walk into the Casbar and fan out in front of the entrance.

"Give us the girl," the front most vampire demands.

"Why do you want her?" I inquire.

"That's none of your fucking business!" One vampire yells as he rushes forward with a blade aimed at my stomach before his head explodes.

Archer is holding the 'smoking' gun as another vampire flanks him. Archer doesn't see him coming! He's going to get stabbed!

(Not if you have a say in it)

I flash forward and throw myself in the way. I get this strange feeling of Déjà vu as the six inch knife plunges into my stomach.

"Cole!" Archer shouts as he blows the head off of the second vampire.

Vague memories suddenly come rushing back to me, but one in particular makes the most impact: a best friend that I killed after an event similar to this one. However, I can't recall his name or his face. Fragments of older memories return and in almost all of them, that silver haired girl is there... who is she?

(I'll take over from here) the voice says.

A silver liquid envelops my head and then everything flashes red. I feel my right hand clap over my stomach as I pull a three foot long blade with a trapezoid-shaped cross guard from it. I rush forward and slice the heads off of the remaining three vampires before they even know what's happened. I stand there holding the blade as blood showers down from the necks of the vampires.

(Don't you just love the tingly feeling of fresh blood being rained down upon us?)

"Cole? Are you alright?" Archer cautiously asks.

I feel the helmet retract as I collapse to the floor with my vision fading.

...

Chapter 3: Executioner meets Azeman

"This is so not cool!" I hear a female voice say with a light Spanish accent as I awaken.

"Just keep counting the coins, Azeman," Archer replies.

An azeman is a vampire from South America that can change into a bat and also has a severe obsessive compulsion to count things. Archer must be using the coins to keep her preoccupied so that she doesn't run off.

"I have a name, you know! It's Reyna Reyes, not that you're interested..." Reyna says.

"You're right. I'm not interested so just count the coins until Cole wakes up," Archer replies.

"I'm awake," I groan as I sit up.

"Welcome back, buddy. Thought we'd lost you there for a second," Archer replies as he hands me a glass of water.

"Thanks Arch. How long was I out?" I inquire.

"About three hours," Archer answers.

"Okay, I still have some time before Kita gets home. Alright Reyna, could you please tell us why those vampires were after you?" I ask politely.

"Well, my father was Alejandro Reyes..." Reyna quietly says, as though that name holds weight.

"I knew I should have shot her..." Archer mumbles and I give him a puzzled look. "Alejandro Reyes was the leader of The Kings, the vampire gang that the liche from Irkalla took over. Supposedly, he was also the ex-husband of the Azeman Queen. She's a vampire princess, Cole."

(What is it with you and princesses?)

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask aloud.

"I'm just the daughter of the head of a vampire cartel... former head," Reyna replies, thinking that my question was directed at her.

"Alam, the liche, kept me around as a trophy. I escaped with the help of my friend, Ernesto. We were on our way to the Mictlan district, where my mother is, when we were caught. Ernesto sacrificed himself to allow me the time to escape, but the other vampires caught up to me anyway. I was stabbed from behind before I ripped out my attacker's throat and continued running. I was partially delirious from blood loss when I got this strange compulsion to come in here..." Reyna says and starts crying when she mentions Ernesto. I move towards her and give her a comforting hug.

"Hey... do you really think that Ernesto would be happy to see you like this?" I gently ask her.

"He sacrificed himself for you! Do you really think he will be happy if he sees that you've killed yourself!?" The memory of a familiar female voice rings through my head.

"No..." Reyna cries into my right shoulder at the same time as another voice, one I recognize as the silver haired girl, replies with an identical answer.

"Umm... Reyna?" I ask.

"Hmm?" Reyna responds, muffled from my neck.

"You need to stop now," I tell her.

"Hmm...? I'M SORRY!" Reyna exclaims with surprise after detaching herself from my neck.

"You just smell so good!" she explains while looking at the ground and using her finger to play with the left fang that is protruding over her bottom lip. That action makes her look pretty cute and her eyes are definitely doing something for me...

"I guess I'll take it as a compliment then! By the way, how old are you Reyna?" I ask, purely for curiosity's sake... I SAID PURELY FOR CURIOSITY'S SAKE!

"I'm twenty-two," Reyna replies as I put my fist behind my back and Archer inconspicuously 'pounds' it.

(No, you are already cheating on her with that other girl)

The voice explodes inside my head.

"AHH! WHAT OTHER GIRL!?" I scream aloud as I try to work through the sensation of 'brain freeze' that I am currently feeling.

"AH! Other girl?" Reyna yelps with confusion.

"Dude, are you feeling alright?" Archer asks.

"Yeah, just got this sudden headache, that's all," I nervously laugh.

"Alright, so what we obviously need to do is find some way to get you to Mictlan," I say. I feel some strange need to help this woman.

"Good luck with that. You know how it is, Cole. The Gates have been on total lockdown for the past nine months. The only legal way to get through is to have a championship brand..." Archer reminds me.

(When do we compete?)

"Can we do this?" I ask the voice in my head.

(Yes, and it will aid your remembrance)

"Well, I guess I'll just have to become Champion then, won't I?" I say aloud.

Chapter 4: I really hope that foxfire isn't real...

"Cole, I know that you're strong, and I know that you've seen plenty of Citadel matches, but did you forget that the battles at higher ranks are fierce and that if you die, you go poof?" Archer reminds me, trying to talk me out of it.

"Yeah, but very few gladiators ever go poof. I'll be fine, Arch! Can you get me signed up for a fight?" I ask.

"*Sigh* Yeah... but you have to tell Kita!" Archer insists.

"That's what I was planning on doing right now. Do you have any clothes for Reyna to wear that aren't so... conspicuous? And a bag that I can wrap this in?" I request while holding up the sword in my hand.

Archer leads us upstairs to his three bedroom penthouse, grabs some clothes for Reyna, and shows her to the bathroom so she can change.

"Thanks, Arch. Oh, and if any more vampires come looking for her, just give them a description of me and say that I killed them all," I tell him as Reyna exits the bathroom dressed in a baggy black sweatshirt and grey sweatpants.

"Sure, just be careful, Cole. Oh, and watch out for Kita's foxfire!" Archer exclaims as Reyna and I exit the Casbar.

We walk six blocks and then up the three flights of stairs to the apartment.

"Welcome home, Cole! How was... your... day?" Kita asks with a wide smile that falls as she sees me, and further when she sees Reyna. I look down and see a red stab wound in my clothing at stomach level.

"COLE! WHAT HAPPENED!? AND WHO IS THIS!?" Kita shouts.

"Do you mind if I use your shower? Changing clothes didn't help the blood that is on my skin," Reyna asks.

"Sure, it's right over here. I'll tell you the story in a second, Kita," I reply.

I grab a towel for Reyna and show her to the shower. I regale my tale of events that have occurred since Kita left this morning while Reyna is in the shower.

"Cole! What are you thinking!?" Kita angrily asks.

"Kita... when I was fighting, I had this strange sense of déjà vu. I think this is the key to getting my memories back and it's apparent that the 'old me' knew how to fight. Plus, with the money I make from the fights, we can move into a bigger apartment!" I exclaim while leaving out the part about the voice in my head because hearing voices is never a good sign. I'm not worried about it because it somehow feels right to me, but Kita would most likely freak.

"Alright, Cole... as long as you're sure that you're up to this. I don't want to see you go poof," Kita says after a moment.

"I'll be just fine, Kita," probably. "Now I have two questions for you. First, is foxfire real?" I ask.

"For red foxes, yes. I'm an arctic fox so no, I can't use foxfire," Kita replies as I hear the bathroom door open.

"Okay, second question: can Reyna stay here for a few nights?" I inquire. Kita's eyes narrow in response and my genitals suddenly get very cold.

"The question you should have asked is if I can use foxice," Kita says with a brusque tone as I look down and see that the entire area over the groin of my jeans is frozen.

"Ouch, okay, stop that!" I exclaim in a mild panic as I drop my pants to the floor and cup my junk to try and dislodge my balls from my throat. "Please Kita? It'll only be for a few days and if she goes anywhere else, she is likely to be killed before she makes it to Mictlan."

"...Fine, but you owe me," Kita replies with a terse tone before retiring to the bedroom, passing by Reyna and slamming the door shut behind her.

There is a quick rap at the front door and I answer it to find Archer standing there.

"Hey, I got you set up in a rookie qualifier for tomorrow. The previous competitor quit after seeing the match this morning. Why aren't you wearing pan—oh, I guess I should have mentioned foxice instead huh?" Archer rhetorically asks.

"Yeah, you think? So who am I fighting?" I inquire.

"Actually, you are up against one of the former Kings. Could you do me a favor and don't finish him off easily? After the qualifier, I should be able to get you a higher level match and if you barely beat the vampire tomorrow, then the odds against you in your next fight will be higher and we can cash out big!" Archer exclaims.

"Yeah, I guess I can do that, but I have one condition: Reyna has to stay at your place. I'll be staying there tonight as well, just in case any of the liche's gang comes looking for her," I explain.

"Aw bro, come on! I can't let the azeman stay at my place!" Archer exclaims.

"Why do you hate vampires so much, Arch?" I ask, followed by several moments of silence.

"They're the reason I'm dead. I was drained by a vampire and now I'm here," Archer quietly explains a few moments later.

In the Underworld, there are those that are here because they're dead, and then there are those that are here for various reasons, like because they can't live on earth without drawing attention to themselves, such as Kita. Archer and I had never discussed which he is before, but that doesn't change our current situation.

"Just because one drained you, doesn't mean that they're all bad. That is profiling, my friend," I retort.

"I... fine, but I'd better make a ton of money off of this!" Archer submits.

"Don't worry. It will be convincing, I promise. Let me just go grab some new clothes and then we'll get going," I reply.

I walk to the bedroom, knock softly on the door, and step inside.

"Hey, Archer is going to put Reyna up so no worries. I'm going to stay there tonight to make sure that they'll be safe if any vampires come looking for her in the middle of the night," I inform Kita as I pull out a new pair of jeans and a t-shirt from the dresser.

"Alright... I'll be sure to come and watch you tomorrow..." Kita quietly responds from her prone status on the bed as she faces the wall. She is obviously upset so I lie down behind her, wrap my arms around her, and kiss the right side of her neck.

"I'll be just fine fighting tomorrow. You should have seen me today. I moved so fast that the vampires didn't know what hit them... a single vampire will be easy," I whisper into her ear, trying to sound reassuring.

"It's not that... I'm torn, Cole... I want you to recover your memories, but if you get them back... never mind. I'll see you tomorrow after the match," Kita quietly says. Getting the hint that she no longer wishes to discuss this, I leave the bed.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," I gently reply as I leave the room.

Archer and Reyna don't say a word as we leave the apartment and walk the six blocks back to the Casbar with the blue-green sky darkening for the night that the Underworld uses to recharge the artificial daylight.

"Alright, well I have a big day tomorrow so I'm going to bed," I announce when we get into Archer's residence above the Casbar.

"Okay, goodnight bro," Archer says.

"Goodnight, Cole," Reyna replies as I walk down the hallway and into one of the bedrooms.

(I would suggest creating another Sic blade tonight)

"What's a sick blade? Another one of the swords? How do I do that?" I silently ask.

(SiC, stands for silicon carbide. You made the sword by solidifying your blood into silicon carbide. You can make another one by willing your blood to do so. Go to the kitchen and grab a sharp knife)

I do as she says and walk into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Reyna and Archer are watching TV on the couch.

"Stupid humans... European vampires can't turn into bats!" I hear Reyna exclaim at the TV.

I grab a knife from the block on the counter and slip it into my pocket. I return to my room after seeing that Archer and Reyna are watching Dracula, the 1931 film version.

(Now use the knife to cut open your left arm)

I drag the knife across the length of my left forearm, a little surprised to find that I can't feel it, but less surprised that I don't bleed. I certainly should be bleeding, but something tells me that I've done this before...

(Wrap your right hand over your incision and drag your hand outward while imagining the blade forming in your right hand)

I obey and imagine a companion to the blade I pulled out of my stomach earlier today. I open my eyes, see the trapezoid-shaped cross guard along with the black and red blade, and I know that I'm successful.

(Now get some rest)

I take her suggestion and hit the bed like a sack of bricks.

****

"What do you mean he's alive? Sara, if this is some attempt to make me feel better then it isn't working," The silver haired girl says.

"I'm not lying, Rei. My mother told me that he is alive and is currently living in the Underworld," An Indian woman with short black hair, green eyes, and square-framed glasses says.

"I have to go then, Sara!" The silver haired girl exclaims.

"No! From what my mother told me, he has to come back on his own, otherwise he may be lost to us forever..." The Indian woman explains.

"Then why did you even tell me!?" the silver haired girl angrily shouts with tears in her eyes.

"Because he should be coming back soon. There are people helping him," The Indian woman says.

"Cole... wake up and come back to me, okay?"

****

I awaken to a lithe female form straddling me and biting into my neck. I get this odd feeling that the silver haired girl will come into the room, but the door remains closed. Then I get a compulsion to grab the straddling female's wrist and make her head to explode, but I ignore it.

"Oh, come on Reyna! You're going to suck me dry!" I exclaim.

(Phrasing)

I burst out laughing as Reyna snaps out of it.

"I'm sorry, Cole! That stupid movie made me hungry and you smell so irresistible!" Reyna explains.

(I understand that you don't want to kill the azeman, but can't we scare her a little?)

"What did you have in mind?"

(You can manipulate the blood that she drank. That is how you put her to sleep)

"Well, I'll resort to that if it becomes a problem... I wonder how much of my blood she has swallowed?"

(0.7 Liters)

"You can tell that too? What are you?"

(Think of me as a secretary that you occasionally use to cheat on your wife)

"I have a wife!?"

(It's a metaphor fool)

"It's okay, Reyna. Something about you is somewhat captivating to me. Just try to restrain yourself," I casually reply.

"Cole... just because I'm sucking on your neck doesn't mean that I'm interested in having sex with you," Reyna says with one raised eyebrow.

"No, I mean that your eyes remind me of... something," I respond, trailing off as I think of the girl with silver hair. Even if the voice said that it was a metaphor, the mention of me having a wife is somehow reminiscent. Perhaps there was a girl that was like my wife... the silver haired girl?

"Oh, okay... well, goodnight," Reyna says.

"Goodnight, Reyna," I reply as she leaves the room.

...

Chapter 5: The Return of the King

[September 6th]

I wake up at 8am, take a shower, and get dressed in the same clothes that I wore last night.

"Okay, so the match is set to begin at 11am. It's a blades-only rookie qualifying match, so no armor is allowed," Archer reminds me as I eat a bowl of cereal.

"Remember the plan and try to make it look like a challenge," Archer reminds me as the three of us ride the subway that leads to the underground Citadel.

"Don't forget that vampires are fast," Archer reminds me as we step off of the Adlivun subway. The Citadel is divided to have a separate transportation section and seating section for each district so that spectators have to go back the way they came.

"Don't forget to watch for the fangs!" Archer reminds me after we check in and walk towards the Adlivun combatants' chamber.

"Sir, this area is for combatants only," A guard says to Archer.

"DON'T FORGET TO--" Archer yells past the guard that is blocking him.

"DON'T WORRY, MOM! I'LL MAKE SURE TO BRUSH MY TEETH!" I interrupt.

"GOOD LUCK, COLE!" Reyna shouts as I continue to walk down the hall and into the combatants' chamber.

The combatants' chamber looks like a locker room made of black stone. I notice the very large vampire I will be fighting, as well as two guards to make sure that we don't fight before the match. I sit on a bench with a sword in each hand, just waiting. The vampire keeps sneering at me unnecessarily while sharpening a large battle axe with a crescent shaped blade and appears to have a mace for a pommel.

"Okay, both of you move to the gate," One of the guards says after a few minutes.

"Let's have a good match. Best of luck to both of us," I say to the vampire as we are waiting for the gate.

"I'M GOING TO FUCKING DESTROY YOU!" the vampire snarls in a fashion that makes me think he has extremely small testicles to go with his 'brick shithouse' physique.

(I am so going to enjoy slaughtering him)

The gate opens and the vampire pushes past me and runs off to the right. I walk into the red-lighted stadium and over to the opposite side where I wait for the go light. The battleground flashes green and the vampire takes off in a blur until my eyes suddenly adjust. The vampire appears to be moving much faster than the vampires from yesterday, but I don't feel like he is moving all that quickly—I'm just moving really slowly.

The vampire swings his giant battle axe and I put up both swords to block, which ends with me flying back about fifteen feet. I stand to my feet in time to block and get knocked to the ground again.

(Something is wrong. This vampire is too strong to be just a vampire)

I stand again as my vision suddenly shifts and I see a swirl of colors in an orb over the vampire's torso and a red outline around his body.

(This is most unusual...)

The shift in my vision is enough of a distraction for the vampire to get in a strike with the large metal pommel of the axe, crushing my left hand and disarming me. I slash his arm with my right Sic blade before blocking the axe swing that would have taken my head off. The vampire follows up by delivering a crushing blow to my right shin with the mace.

"Ah!" I yelp in pain as my right leg collapses out from under me.

The vampire follows up with a swift kick to my chest, sending me sprawled out on my back. He runs over and kicks my right sword from my hand.

"AUGH!" I scream as the vampire drives the tip of his axe into my right hand.

"Now that you're soon to be out of the picture, all that's left is to kill that spying azeman and continue with Ahriman's plan," The vampire says in a voice that isn't his own, one with a Middle Eastern accent. "Oh, and don't worry. I will make sure to take care of that little bitch of yours. Take assurance in the fact that you can't do anything to stop me! Hahaha!"

"That little bitch of yours... Can't do anything to stop me" the memories of two different voices echo through my mind.

"Cheza" the world subconsciously surfaces to my lips.

I hear screaming as my memories come flooding back. It's as though the dam that held them just disappeared. I realize that the screaming is coming from me as the vampire continues to laugh.

(Welcome home, Master)

"AHH—Hahaha! You must be the liche, Alam. I must thank you for waking me from my amnesiac slumber. As a reward, here is a taste of what I'm going to do to you," I tell him.

I kick up and across the vampire's face, dislodging the axe from my hand. I rock to my feet and lurch forward to grasp the vampire's temples with my right hand. The vampire begins screaming as I feed my blood through his eyes and into his head. I transmute my blood into Octaazacubane as I throw him about ten feet into the air. He explodes, showering blood down upon me as it rains body parts and the crowd goes nuts.

It feels tingly to be back.

Suddenly, a black cloud strikes down beside me as it forms into a person that has taken a knee.

"Jason?" I ask my blonde best friend who is currently sporting a pointy goatee and a faint golden outline.

"Dammit, CT! Why do you recognize me!?" Jason angrily inquires.

"Oh, I recovered my memories a few seconds ago," I respond.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jason asks in disbelief.

"Do you have any idea how long it took me to grow this goatee and then have it meticulously trimmed on a daily basis to make it look like 'it grew this way simply because I'm evil'? I had this elaborate plan to kidnap Kita and have you come rescue her, where I would have an actress play as Rei and wear a silver wig so that your memories would come back! Now that's all ruined!" Jason exclaims.

"Well, isn't it better that I remember who Cheza is—HOLY SHIT! I THINK I HAVE A KID!"

Continue reading in Book 3 of The Gods' Executioner Series: _Feros and the Underworld Prince_. Now available at most eBook retailers!

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