Chapter 34 Bullets and Blood
Chapter thirty-four
Bullets and Blood
Kenji
The helicopter began to touch down on the rooftop of the Shirogane Hotel, and I looked out at the security guards waiting for us.
They wore black suits and earpieces and waved us in with illuminated batons, guiding the helicopters to their landing zones like they did this every day.
I looked out my window and took in the security guard closest to our helicopter as he stepped forward. The lights from his baton swept across his face, and then lower. His collar shifted slightly as he moved.
And that's when I saw it.
A fox.
Branded into the side of his neck. Dark ink in the shape of my father's symbol.
My hand went to my gun.
I thought about my own people. The Claws. The Roar. The Fangs. The Eyes. We were united as one body—a family built on loyalty and choice.
My father saw his men as possessions. To be in his inner circle, he branded and marked the man like cattle, putting his symbol on their neck.
"Reo." I gestured to the window.
He leaned forward and looked. Then his jaw tightened. "Those aren't Yoshiwara guards. They’re the Fox's inner circle."
Hiro sneered. "Let’s get them.”
I counted twenty guards, maybe more. Every single one had the fox brand on their neck. For a rooftop this size, that was a skeleton crew. "Save your bullets for the bigger fish."
Hiro tilted his head. "The Fox didn't expect trouble from the sky."
"Which means they had no idea we'd come this way. Good." Reo's fingers went to the small mic at his collar and pressed it. "Kill all the guards on the rooftop. Now."
Before my other helicopters could even land, their doors burst open and bullets poured out in deadly waves.
One of the guards tried to run, arms pumping. Made it three steps before a bullet punched him in the back of the head. His body pitched forward. He dropped face-first onto the concrete, shattering his jaw. Blood sprayed. Teeth scattered.
I smiled.
Gunfire erupted across the rooftop. Sharp cracks cut through the sound of helicopter blades.
The guards went for their weapons, but they were too slow.
Another guard's face disappeared in a red mist, skull fragments shattered.
My Scales were faster, better trained, and more prepared, moving like deranged predators. Six leaped from the helicopters before they even touched down—dropping from a low hover and hitting the ground in a crouch with their weapons already up and firing.
Bullets tore through throats, sending arterial spray arcing across the landing pads.
Other guards caught rounds in their chest and crumpled like marionettes with sliced strings.
A Scale slid across the concrete, firing upward into a guard's groin and chest. The man's intestines spilled out.
Soon my Scales finished. Guard bodies twitched in pools of crimson and the rooftop went silent except for the slowing helicopter blades.
Our helicopter landed.
Reo looked at me. "Clear."
I reached down and pulled my two silver guns from their holsters. My Tiger’s blood ran along the tops of each barrel in a thin, reddish dark line—dried but still carrying her protective essence.
I turned them over in my hands. On the side of each gun sat a small switch with three settings.
One for fire.
Another for bullets.
And the last was for both.
I flicked them both to bullets.
Then I brought the guns to my lips, pressed them there, and closed my eyes.
I'm coming back to you, Tora.
Sighing, I opened my eyes and moved the guns from my lips. "Talk to me, Hiroko."
She already had her gun out and in her hand. "The rooftop has two entry points. A VIP elevator with polished gold doors and a glass entrance to the stairwell."
"Which one do we take?"
She pointed to the glass entrance. "Stairwell. There are no cameras on the rooftop or in the stair area, but the elevator has them. The moment we step inside the elevator, they'll know we're coming."
I rose. "Let's go."
The door opened, and we piled out.
The rooftop’s battleground hit me all at once.
The smell came first—copper and gunpowder, thick and warm, coating the back of my throat.
Then the visuals. Bodies sprawled across the concrete in unnatural positions. Limbs bent the wrong way. Jaws missing. Chest cavities opened up like hollowed fruit.
Blood was everywhere—pooled, splattered, smeared in long drag marks where men had tried to crawl before the last bullet found them.
Shell casings rolled under my boots, clicking against the ground like loose teeth.
The wind carried the stench of spilled intestines and burnt flesh.
And I breathed it in.
Deep.
My pulse steadied.
My grip on the guns tightened, and hunger expanded in my chest.
This was my element. The place where the noise in my head went quiet and every nerve in my body sharpened to a single point.
I stepped over a body and didn't look down.
Hiro was next to me with his knife already in his hand.
Hiroko and her two guards stayed close. The Claws moved into formation around us, and I saw the focus in their eyes. They knew what was coming.
Behind me, the Scales who had cleared the rooftop were already reloading—magazines dropping, fresh ones slamming in, slides racking in a synchronized rhythm.
They fell into position. Half took the front. Half took the rear. Guns up. Eyes forward.
“We need to pick it up.” I ran, and everyone matched my speed.
With twenty dead guards on the rooftop, that meant a clock was already ticking. The moment the Fox's people missed a check-in or someone glanced at a monitor and saw empty posts, our element of surprise was gone.
We had minutes.
Maybe less.
So far, surprise was the only advantage we had over the Ukiyo Council and my father. We needed to keep it.
The rooftop entrance was a glass door that led into the building.
Reo got there first and yanked it open.
We rushed through and entered the stairwell.
Down one flight.
Then another.
The sound of our boots echoed.
“Don’t go any further. There’s a camera on the next flights.” Hiroko pointed to the left. “We take this door.”
We did and hit a hallway with sterile white walls and fluorescent lights. The service space was definitely designed to be forgettable.
“We’re close to the service elevator.” Hiroko pointed left again and got next to me.
With our guns out, we followed her to a service door at the end of the corridor. She pulled out the bronze key. Her hands shook.
I placed my hand on her shoulder. “Take your time and breathe.”
She let out a long breath, slid the bronze key into the lock, and pushed the door open.
An elevator was behind it.
Old.
Industrial.
She pressed the button.
It opened.
We peered in.
It was big enough to hold twenty of us.
Reo looked at her. “What do they use this for?”
Hiroko pocketed the key. “Furniture deliveries, janitor carts, and of course the darker things. . .getting rid of bodies and the evidence of murder.”
I nodded. “So no cameras here either?”
“Not one.” She pulled out another key, bronze again but zig zagged at the end. Next, she slid it into a panel beneath the buttons.
With a groan, the panel opened and revealed a new set of buttons that looked like they hadn't been updated in decades.
I saw the numbers. One. Two. Three. Three-A. Five. Six.
No four since it was unlucky. The word for four sounded too much like the word for death. So they skipped it, even here, in a place built for sin and secrets, they honored old superstitions.
She looked at me. “When we’re ready to lower, press U3A. That’s the center VIP level in the Depths.”
“Got it.”
She stepped back next to me.
Reo turned to the Scales behind us and held up a hand. "We can't all fit. Not in one ride."
His gaze swept the group and he pointed to a group of Scales.
"You six. Front line. You stay ahead of the Dragon at all times.
The rest of you hold this floor. Secure the hallway, lock down the stairwell, and keep our exit clean.
No one comes through that door. If we need to pull back, this is where we funnel. If not, then wait for my command."
The remaining Scales broke off without hesitation, fanning back down the corridor with their weapons up.
“Come on.” I guided Hiroko in. “We go in first.”
Her men followed on her sides.
Hiro turned to the twins. They already had their guns out, standing side by side with identical stillness. “You know your one job.”
They nodded together.
“Keep my brother alive. That’s it.”
Hiro looked at one. "Aki, right side.”
He turned to the other. “Yuki, left."
Okay. That’s Aki and that’s Yuki.
The men smirked and I swore they went in the other’s directions, confusing me.
What the fuck? So. . .is it Yuki now on the left and Aki on the right or are they. . .oh who fucking cares? I give up.
Hiro rolled his eyes, telling me that they did do something confusing.
But it didn’t matter. Both got next to me, slowly forcing Hiroko to go further to the side. Guns up. Scars catching the light.
Hiro positioned himself in front of us, knife in one hand, gun in the other. Before anyone could get to me, they would have to get through him, and not many could.
Reo stepped in behind Hiro, hand on his weapon.
The Claws filed in next.
The six chosen Scales loaded in last, forming two tight rows nearest the doors — a wall of guns trained forward, ready to absorb whatever waited on the other side.
The elevator groaned under our weight but held.
Reo pressed the button, and the doors closed.
Slowly we lowered.
The twins leaned forward and looked at each other.
Then one whispered, "Where one falls—"
"—the other burns it all down." The other twin nodded.
Reo looked at the Scales in front of us. "When these doors open, you're the first line. Understood?"
They nodded, knowing exactly what it meant. The first line would be the first to die if someone were waiting on the other side with guns. No fear hit their eyes. Instead, they moved into position and readied their weapons.
Everyone went silent.
I could only hear breathing, the hum of the elevator cables, and the faint creak of metal as we descended.
After passing all of the floors, we went further down, past the lobby, past the parking garage, past the foundation.
Deeper.
The elevator didn't slow.
It just kept dropping.
I looked at Hiroko. "How deep does this go?"
"Deep enough that most people forget the darker part of the Depths exists."
After a few minutes, the elevator finally began to slow. My stomach lifted slightly as we decelerated.
Everyone raised their weapons.
And I glanced at my Tiger’s blood on my guns and had faith in her protection. I could almost feel her heartbeat through the dried blood on the barrels—lovingly steady, stubborn, refusing to let me go.
Tora.
My chest ached.
Not from fear.
From the distance between us.
I tightened my grip.
I should have put a ring on your finger before I left. I won’t make that mistake again.
Whatever was at the bottom of this elevator, it wasn't getting me.
Not today.
I had things to do.
I had a woman to come home to, and she'd already bled for me.
The least I could do was survive.
And then, the elevator shuddered.
The cables groaned.
And somewhere close, in the Depths, either my father was waiting, or a well-planned trap.
Either way. . .I will survive it.
I just hoped to God that it would be true.