Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
AKIRA
Big up my babies.
Man, they really were amazing.
Just as my hope started to wane, my babies found G and Zach. They looked as happy as piggies in mud. Well, wolves at a free-for-all butcher’s shop. The two special men in my life connected with them. Stroked their fur, got licked.
Divine, cherryfied intervention.
Careful now. There’s always a price.
I snarled at the flash of pessimism, despite it being true. If the Cherry Moon magic dished up hope, then a knife in the dark moment would follow.
You know, for more of that balance bollocks.
“The suffering will soon begin,” Bony Hag said, oblivious to my babies having slipped away. “Death will be slow. Your decay will be blessed.”
Uh-huh. Whoopee. What did she want? Cartwheels?
“I will feed on the rot of The Taker’s love. I will be queen of all, the first of The Nine. The true leader.”
By the tenshi, I did not give two shits about her damn ambitions. “Can’t a man die in peace?”
I got no answer, only the glare of her creepy eyes.
“You’ll get yours,” I couldn’t help saying. “I don’t stay down for long, you know.”
No death for me. I felt it in my, erm, bones.
“This time you will be down forever. In the darkness.”
I rolled my eyes, hoping she saw.
Just then I felt a tickle, and got a quick glimpse of other action.
Bob and Rose led G and Zach into a place of…I couldn’t see clearly, but they were coming this way, their energy closing in.
“I am spun from love and its pains,” Bony Hag said. “It nourishes me.”
Whatever happened to a bowl of soup?
“The world changes. Everything changes. The seedlings of our hope will always find a way through an abrasive surface.” Laughter, the cruel sound chilling my bones.
“You’re abusing the tenshi’s blessing.”
She didn’t answer that either, and the sand was still coming. Louder now, the falling grains stinging my eyes.
“I’m known to piss on big plans,” I threw out. “Just ask Mama Rita.”
She hissed. “Do not speak her name.”
“Just did. Is her spirit out there somewhere? Is she suffering? Is she screaming as she roasts over some pit of fire? I hope so. Hand me some marshmallows and I’ll gladly pay her a visit.”
Sometimes, my mouth couldn’t help itself.
Sand tickled my neck. I wriggled, getting nowhere.
Those eyes finally blinked. “Love’s threads connect me to the essence of what I am. I see them, those ancient sisters and their desire for sex and companionship. Beautiful, trapped in a spiral with their beloveds.”
Hmmm. I knew the creature she was talking about, but I couldn’t quite remember the name.
“When your soul leaves your body, you will not journey to the afterlife to await your lover, but come to me. Bound to my will for eternity, in constant awe of my magnificence. Feeding me with your endless torment over losing love.”
Grim. “Love. That’s how you got hold of me, right? Used it against me?”
“The Taker’s weakness, and my delight.” Blink, blink, another hiss. “It is almost time.”
Sneaky. “Love triumphs hate. Especially that kind of hate.”
Damn, how mean was she?
“You have no idea what awaits you,” she countered.
The sand was up to my chin now. “And you have no idea how hard your fall will be.”
“Your mouth will not save you.”
Bob appeared, licking my face.
“My baby!” I cried.
Bony Hag hissed.
Rose joined him, growling at the piece of shit and her widening peepers.
“What is this?” the vile thing demanded.
My babies were usually invisible, but clearly not tonight. And what was with their eyes matching the bone freak up there? Where did the orange go?
Hone-onna.
Yeah, that was what she was based on.
Let’s not think about it now, eh?
“These wolves,” Bony Hag said. “These wolves have—”
A massive boom behind me rocked the fishbowl, the sweet sound of cracking bone perking me up big time.
The lights came back on, the hole in the roof reopening. Mercifully, the sand also stopped pouring in. Sakura swooped into the bowl, encircling the top half in a fab ring of pink.
Not so fucking sure of herself now, was she?
Tee to the pissing hee!