Feros and the Underworld Prince (12 page)

“
YOU GUYS! STOP IT!” Jamie screams at the two guys that are fighting. Katie immediately starts dragging me in that direction.

“
Jamie, what’s going on?” Katie asks.

“
Those idiots are fighting over me!” Jamie yells in an exacerbated fashion. One of them grabs a bottle and I decide that it is time to step in.

“
Whoa, guys! Isn’t there a better way to solve this; a way that doesn’t involve ruining the party?” I ask after stepping between them.

One of the guys nods in acknowledgment of his wrongdoing after he looks around at the situation. The other guy decides that he isn’t finished and decides to throw the bottle at me. I catch it with my right hand and drop it, where it makes a soft thud when it hits floor. I put my left hand in front of the punch that was following the bottle.

“
AUGH!” the guy screams as he pulls his hand back.

“
Congratulations you fucking idiot! You most likely just broke your hand.” I tell him as I grab the collar of his jacket and drag him towards the door.

“
You will probably want to get some ice for that!” I call out as I toss him onto the lawn and return to the party.

“
Thanks Cole!” Jamie says cheerily while handing me a drink to show her gratitude.

“
Still unable to go to a party without being involved in a fight I see, eh big brother?” I hear Cheza ask behind me in a slightly malicious tone.

I nearly drop my drink when I hear her call me ‘brother,’ but I chug it instead so I can buy the time I need to recover and come up with some clever comeback. I turn around and see a smug smile that tells me that she knows what her ‘big brother’ comment did to me.

“
Brother huh? That’s funny, I don’t recall you ever calling me brother in the shower, or in my bed, or on the plane, or in the Greenlandic hotel, or that time with the beaded cat’s tail.” I state in a matter-of-fact fashion, watching as Cheza’s eyes go wide while her face turns a deep shade of crimson before she storms off.

I hate myself.

“
Dude… that might have been a little too far…” Katie suggests.

“
You think so too huh…? I’m going to go get some fresh air.” I quietly say.

“
Do you want some company?” Katie asks.

“
No… but thanks.” I say while trying to smile.

I take a right out of the house and start walking. About ten minutes later, I pass by the entrance of a place called Desert Arboretum Park.

“
I’m sorry I have to do this.” I hear Jarrett say, accompanied by the sound of a gun cocking. I race towards the sound and into the park.

“
Who are you? Why are you doing this?” a female voice asks.

I round the corner and see five men holding a woman at gun point with M4 Carbines. As I get closer, I see that this woman has two bushy, orange and white tails, and a matching pair of ears poking out of her head. I’m not about to watch a fox-girl get shot in the head for the second time this week.

“
HEY! LEAVE THE FOX-GIRL ALONE!” I shout as I run over.

“
You know the orders: no witnesses. Make it look like a mugging.” Jarrett says.

One of the soldiers pulls out a Beretta M9 9mm pistol and fires at me twice. My helmet engages as I dodge the bullets and I’m surprised by what I see: all five of the men have red outlines, but human centers of solid red, blue, or green. The helmet freaks them out and they all start firing their M4’s at once. I keep my distance while I unwrap the bandage from my arm. Recalling Tia’s lesson’s on guns, the M4 has a velocity of nearly three thousand feet per second and I’m not wearing anything that is bulletproof so I can’t get in close.

Suddenly, a large fire nova erupts from the fox-girl, igniting the clothing of several of the men. I use this distraction to close in as one of the men turns his sights on the fox-girl. I flash forward and give him a single left punch to his chest. He squirts blood as he flies about thirty feet with his ribcage completely destroyed.

(FALCON PUNCH!)

I start laughing as I rush forward and punch through the head of the last gunman that isn’t currently on fire. The three that are on fire are too disoriented to put up much of a fight so I quickly pulp them.

“
Thank you… what is your name?” the Asian fox-girl asks.

“
Cole Treyfair.” I reply after I retract my helmet.

“
Thank you for your assistance, Treyfair-san. You appear to have a yatagarasu flying over you.” The fox-girl replies. I look up, but I don’t see anything.

“
I don—” I start to say until I look back down and see that the fox-girl is gone.

I don’t feel like this makes up for Kita, but I do feel that I have atoned for my failure, if only slightly. I do wish I would have gotten her name though, especially with how things are looking with Cheza…

“
Oh shit… OH SHIT!” I scream as I pull out my phone to dial Katie’s number.

“
HELLO? COLE? I CAN’T HEAR ANYTHING SO JUST TEXT ME!” Katie shouts over the music and then hangs up.

Meet me in Desert Arboretum Park, like now!

Be ther in 5

I’ve never been one for smoking, but now seems like a pretty good time. I start searching the bodies and I’m in luck: a pack of Camel Crush that contains three cigarettes and a lighter. I break the menthol capsule in the filter and light one up.

“
Cole! You’re covered in blood!” Katie exclaims when she sees me at the park’s entrance about five minutes later.

“
Don’t worry… it’s not mine.” I tell her as I light another cigarette.

(Because if it’s not your blood, then why would she need to worry?)

“
And since when do you smoke?” Katie asks.

“
Since I just killed Cheza’s boyfriend.” I inform her.

“
What? Cole you didn’t… kill him because he was dating Cheza, did you?” Katie cautiously asks.

“
No, of course not. He and four other guys had M4 carbines and were about to execute a kitsune, a Japanese fox-girl, and then they opened fire on me when I yelled at them to stop… but Cheza will never believe that!” I exclaim as I start to panic.

“
Cole, calm down. If you don’t tell her, Cheza will never know that you did it!” Katie states in a reassuring manner.

“
That won’t work… his torso is a pile of pulp; I’ll be implicated the moment she hears that… hell, I’ll be implicated the moment she hears that he died, regardless of the how.” I say as I hang my head in defeat.

“
What did normal humans want with a kitsune anyway?” Katie asks.

“
I don’t—” I start to say as I remember their red auras. I pull out my phone and dial Natasha’s number.

“
Sorry, Natasha can’t come to the phone for an asshole who has been back for nearly a week and is just now calling her.” Natasha answers.

“
Yeah, sorry about that, but I’m having a bit of a crisis.” I tell her.

“
What’s up?” she asks.

“
I just killed Cheza’s boyfriend, but what’s strange is the fact that he and four other armed men tried to execute a kitsune… oh, and that they all had red auras, just like the enhanced vampires I fought in the Underworld.” I explain.

“
Wait a minute, they were human!?” Natasha asks as if this is really troubling news.

“
Yeah. Their upgrades weren’t really noticeable except for the fact that I was moving at a speed that would have been incredibly difficult to follow, yet they seemed to have no problems tracking me in the middle of the night.” I inform her.

“
This is really bad news… What’s your situation?” Natasha inquires.

“
I’m at the entrance to the park where I killed them, standing around with Cheza’s friend Katie, smoking a cigarette that I bummed off a dead guy, and trying not to think about Cheza’s animosity towards me when she discovers that I killed her boyfriend.” I explain.

“
Haha! Oh, how I’ve missed you Cole! Wait, who’s Katie?” Natasha asks.

“
She’s one of Cheza’s friends that I rescued during Cheza’s grad party. She’s in the organic chemistry class that I’m taking at ASU and we became friends.” I tell her.

“
Wow Cole… you really have a knack for bringing girls into your problems, did you know that?” Natasha says and I nearly drop the phone; her words are a crushing weight upon me as I think of Kita.

“
Cole? Cole are you there? Cole!” Natasha says.

“
Yeah… I’m here…” I reply, sounding like I have something in my throat. I hear Natasha gasp over the phone.

“
Cole… I wasn’t referring to Kita, I was talking about myself. I don’t blame you for her death, Cole… Is this why you haven’t called before now?” Natasha asks gently.

“
Yeah… that probably has something to do with it…” I quietly respond.

“
Then I forgive you for not calling… can you please hand the phone to Katie?” Natasha requests and I hand over the phone.

“
Hello… I’m not sure, what would it entail?… I don’t know… Yeah, I guess I kind of am… Really!? I would!?… He has a harem?… No, we’re just friends so no thanks on the harem; otherwise, I’m in… Okay.” Katie finishes her conversation while I’m too shaken up to consider listening in to hear the whole thing, and then she hands the phone back to me.

“
Okay, so here’s the plan: port Katie and yourself to your house and get cleaned up. I’ll meet you both there in about twenty minutes. Don’t worry about the park, I’ve already sent a team for cleanup and they should be there any minute.” Natasha says.

“
How do you know where I am?” I inquire.

“
We’re the government, Cole; we know everything… haha just kidding. I’m using your phone’s GPS to track you. Now hurry up and get going, and don’t worry about Katie; she was just hired by The Agency’s research and development division. Oh, and by the way, she is going to be studying you in a lab setting sometime in the near future. Tootles!” Natasha says and ends the call.

Chapter 14: Suck it Dr. Scholl’s

“
Do you mind if we go back to the sorority house first so I can change?” Katie asks after I hang up the phone.

“
Sure.” I tell her and grab her hand as I reach for my triskele.

“
Whoa I feel dizzy… that is too cool! How did you do that!?” Katie exclaims when she sees that we are in her room. I walk into her bathroom and stand there with my back to the door while Katie changes.

“
I don’t really know; it’s something that only gods are supposed to be able to do, but I’ve been able to ever since I had this tri-circle symbol branded onto my shoulder.” I tell her and Katie finishes getting dressed in silence.

“
All done; let’s head to your house.” Katie says a few minutes later when she’s finished changing into jeans and a yellow t-shirt.

“
Alright, let’s go.” I say and grab her hand.

I port us to my room only to find two armed men standing in it. We all stare at each other for a moment as I notice a red outline around them. They recover and start to snap their submachine guns into firing position, but they never get that far. I backhand both of them using a single swing from my left arm and watch as their heads explode all over my room. I look over at a gore-covered Katie as she slips into shock; at least she wasn’t wearing her white dress from the party. I lead her to the bathroom and I get jumped.

“
COLE! There are a large number of enemies with guns and they have captured Sara and Tia! They told me to take my bracelet off and hide so I ran in here and…” Naia tells me in a flurry of tears.