Chapter Four - Dangerous Enemy
To avoid detection from military forces, Kiname and I traveled to Moose River Plains Wild Forest moving under mach speed. We were being hunted. The assassins hired by Bobby were on our trail and the fight had to be somewhere secluded, somewhere away from people. This was our best bet, though I know the fight was about to get loud, due to pain and suffering caused. Kiname and I decided to split up and in doing so, the two massive assassins followed him while the small teenage girl and skilled looking mid-sized teenage fellow followed me. Both looked as if they were around eighteen or nineteen. It seemed I was going to fight against what I'm best at: Speed.
For this fight, I wore black leather pants, a black vest shirt, black fingerless gloves, black leather boots with four-inch heels, black lipstick and black fingernail polish on the claws I can sharpen or soften at will. I needed clothing with no chance of interfering with this battle.
I couldn't help, but think that a bird's eye view would have been incredible to see. The jiangshi that were chasing me were pushing their speed to the limits, though my limits were far from being reached. I smiled and found a suitable spot to run up a large tree and zipped to the canopy. They followed and were on different trees. They did not attack yet and I knew why. I am an unknown to them, in fact, I was an unknown to myself until my brother showed me what I am and what I can do. Perhaps, a few days ago, I would have been a little jittery with this battle, but now? I had an odd calm about me.
The small girl spoke first. "You are our target, Asuya." I was curious now. Was I followed to the hotel by one of Bobby's goons or did one of his goons work at the hotel? I had to ask. "How did you find me?" I sounded a bit fearful of that, but that was to throw them off, to give them false confidence. The small girl took the bait and answered me, "Your scent is unique, but your energy signature after a bit of magic, that is what caught our attention immediately. You are a prime energy source... energy I've never felt before and we will have it!" Okay, now I was a bit fearful. Nothing has ever drained me of energy before. A vampire bite? Sure, I've had one of those, but it healed immediately and the vampire partaking of my neck died within seconds---no, not by my hands, but by the "Munakou" as my brother put it, coursing through me. The vampire seemed happy before he died at least!
"I'm not going to lose this fight. Perhaps, greed is not a good motivation for combat, pitting that against my will to survive," I declared to them. I could feel it. The strength I've been missing since the awakening Kiname showed me. The connection to the aspects of Munakou: Water, Void, Chaos, Dimensional... I was going to enjoy testing it against my strong opponents. The mid-sized boy attacked first and he was indeed fast. I could tell that Chinese longsword was enchanted by magic to set his opponents on fire, something many beings were not very fond of for various reasons, the common one? Being burned! He sliced horizontally at my face, causing me to do a limbo styled dodge, before I lifted my left leg to send my foot straight to his neck, causing him to fly over my head and also caused me to flip into a backwards somersault. In the middle of my flip, the small girl attacked next with her "hudiedao" or twin short swords. She had them both aimed for my eyes. That enraged me, causing me to catch them both in my clawed hands. I felt their enchantment as well.
Ice.
This was a huge mistake on her part. I drew ice from her swords and made one of my own, a European longsword. She paused her attack and so did the fella that was adjusting his neck from my rather nasty kick, all of us balancing on the thin canopy we were fighitng on. The small girl spoke, saying, "So you can draw magic from items then?" I smiled and answered, "No. Your enchantment was ice, but I have unrivaled control over that element. Not only are your swords no longer enchanted, but I have a weapon of my own now." The girl looked at me with a bit of shock in her expression, quizzical, like she wanted to ask what exactly I am and what I can do. Unfortunately, such a civil conversation would never happen considering what they were here to do. The ice longword in my hands should have melted by now, but I had pristine control over it, which excited me!
The boy disappeared from my view, but I could feel him nearby. The incredible thing was, I could not feel exactly where he was, something that has never happened to me before! I took the fight a little lower, dashing midway down the tree I was on and all of a sudden, the tree was sliced right in half, horizontally, popping the top half to the air and setting the lower half on fire for a few moments. I evaded this attack as I was too fast for the cut, jumping away from it, looking back at the boy that appeared during the attack, then disappearing again. Behind me, the little girl grabbed me and began siphoning my energy from me, but even just a bit of it made her full! Any further draining would have caused her nasty consequenses, but she at least used that energy to re-enchant her weapon, using fire like her partner. I sent a back-fist---a Bruce Lee backfist, not a UFC backfist---that was so fast that it smashed her nose, it now bleeding like a spigot turned to max! I spun around and sent a horizontal slash with my new sword to her mid-section... slowing it down just under sub-sonic to see if she'd evade it. She did not disappoint me---at least not completely as she did evade it enough to not cause a fatal wound. She did have a nasty gash on her stomach, one that was bleeding just as much as her nose. I felt something in my back now, heating up! I knew I didn't see her weapons when I cut her stomach---that was a nice trick. She left her swords in my back and I barely felt them until she caught them on fire, which really hurt. I used the longsword I created to turn into water and doused the flames on my back and remove the swords, before reforming the longsword, it now floating to my right. She bragged, "You may have gotten me, Asuya, but I also got you."
I frowned and gave a valid rebuttle, "I'm not the one bleeding." The boy didn't like that, redoubling his efforts to try and change that. He sent a flurry of stabs and strikes that easily tapped on the sound-barrier, but it also drained his energy. I could feel it leaving him. I floated the sword back to my hand used clever moves with the longsword, angling my blocks and using minimal movement to deflect the attacks, before I parried him wide when he got sloppy due to his energy drain and I spun, leaving him behind me and my sword to disappear into water, then vapor. He was stunned, before his neck exploded with blood, causing his head to rocket off his shoulders. The cut was as clean as one could get.
As if his death was nothing, I asked, "I find it curious you use an element you are weak to. Did you surmise I was weak to fire as well?" The small girl panicked when she saw the boy die so quickly and even screamed, "How dare this bastard send us against such a dangerous enemy!" I felt sorry for the jiangshi I just killed, but while he looked young, he was at least a millenia old. The little girl rushed to where the battle was taking place between my brother and the two big jiangshi that were against him. She too, was at least a millennia old. I followed her, not attacking, just curious as to how my brother was faring.
When we got to the site they picked to fight, one of the jiangshi was in a crater, completely broken like a boulder landed on him and the other was just flung towards the little girl like a ragdoll, smashing into her and breaking her bones. Kiname must've flung the guy at incredible speeds to kill them both with a collision! I caught them so they didn't go flying into some humans or something, then threw both bodies atop of the one in the crater as they began to burn with a ghostly flame. Kiname nodded to me, not thanking me, but understanding the gesture, before he asked, "What happened to the boy?"
"He's dead. I decapitated him," I said in answer, holding my own neck. That must've been a horrible way to go, but all deaths are horrible, no matter how clean or "pleasant" it appears. I watched the ghostly flames go out after there was nothing left, but ash of the jiangshi, before looking up. Kiname was standing beside me now, assessing the damage on my back. "You got careless, Asuya," he scoffed. He wasn't wrong. The enchanted flames on his sword really hurt. "Am I bleeding back there?" I asked.
Kiname blinks, looking to me for a moment. "Asuya, Sil do not bleed. We're made of energy, remember?" He had me there. This "Munakou" we are made up of is kind of incredible!
"We have to collect their weapons. We cannot have such powerful artifacts being found like this," I informed him, ignoring my injury that was healing slower than normal. Seems us Sil really are weak to fire, though it more damaged my vest than anything else. Kiname collected them using his speed and sighs when he returned to me. "Not sure where we can take these," he muttered.
A small dilemma. Perhaps, I could put them on display in the penthouse that I would be using as soon as Harold moved out of it. Kiname read my mind and smiled a bit, which made me shrug. I could hear footsteps approaching, about ten miles out. Park Rangers. Someone must've heard our battle and got frightened enough to call them. Kiname and I used our speed to get back to the hotel room, again, keeping under mach speed so we were not tracked and keeping to the shadows so we were not seen. Control over "Void" made that easy since we could void light as well. The short swords that the girl was using were kinda useless now that I nullified their magic. The boy's sword was still useful as a weapon, but now, it would be an ornament in my home. I suppose the huge spiked club and massive spear would also be interesting conversation pieces. For now, we stored them in the hotel room closet, the club and spear barely fitting in there, considering their size. Now we had to talk about Bobby. What were we going to do with him?
"Perhaps, with just Bobby's death, the Gambini Family can be spared? He's the real problem here. The rest of them are just following their don," I explained, wasting no time discussing this, even when we just got in from a harrowing battle. I was standing near my bed as I spoke. He sat down on his, looking up at me. He didn't say a word or even think one, which made me pause. Humans can't do that. They're always thinking... even if it's just something mundane or random. "Something wrong, brother?" I asked, tilting my head to the right. He smiled to me and asked me, "Why did you get sloppy back there, Asuya? You can't play with enemies like that, no matter what you feel about them."
That's what was bothering him? Ironically, that was a good question. I had no idea why I felt sorry for those jiangshi. Those two I fought must've had an interesting story. Maybe I hesitated, because I wanted to know it? Kiname caught that and just squinted his eyes at me. "I know, brother, I just..." I didn't know how to finish that thought aloud. I sat on my bed with an exasperated flop and when I did, the heft of my breasts made the burnt vest that was damaged by the enchanted flames to my back, fling off my person to the floor! I had to immediately do what I could to cover them with my left forearm! My forearm was hardly enough due to their size! My brother was cracking up! I've never seen him laugh like that before, which made me start laughing. "Oh shut up, you!" I said through a laugh, throwing the burnt vest at him that I snatched off the floor from my sitting position!
Why did this remind me to call Walter?
First, I had to get up and put on the robe I used last night, tying it to my person, before I looked back at my brother who was still trying to stifle laughs! I smiled and went over to the phone and did a re-dial to the last number that was called, which was his. Glad that no one else called the room while we were gone!
Walter almost answered immediately. He must've been waiting for my call. "Asuya? I'm glad you're okay. Guess I was worried for nothing, huh?" I smiled and asked, "You were worried about me? I appreciate that." I looked over and my brother was rolling his eyes, which made me purse my lips at him in mild frustration mixed with a bit of humour. He got up and walked out, giving me a thought of him going sight-seeing. I nodded---not sure why I did that as he was almost out the door... Walter spoke up again, the door closing behind Kiname after he left the room, "So is your brother around?" That was a forward question---then again, Walter and I have had a lot of time to know each other enough to talk like that---even if this is the first time he spoke with such intent. "He just left to go sight-seeing." There was a pause, then he said, "I'm coming over."
If this was a cartoon, my eyes would have been saucers. Just what did I do to Walter that made him desire me so? Was this building up as he watched me all those years? Was he too scared to go this far before, due to how I felt about undead? I must be getting softer on them though considering what happened in the recent fight. During my thoughts, he hung up. He must've been rushing to get over here! Now I was nervous, which was so human of me. While I didn't regret being raised by humans for so long, I wished this nervousness was not something I learned growing up. I did a check of my body to see if I was dirty from the fight, to see if I smelled good and to be honest? I smelled amazing---all the time. Sweet and seemingly adaptable to those partaking of my scent, probably an effect of what I am made of. I took off the fingerless gloves, pants and boots, attire I bought just for that fight, throwing them to the side. I looked in the mirror, getting my hair right, before I heard a knock on the door. Man he got here fast! He must've been at the nearby precinct. I opened the door and there he was, in his cliche detective outfit. He smelled of... people. Cigarettes, faint perfume and cologne, faint stench of the unwashed, faint stench of coffee and donuts---police stations did not have the best smells, except those last two. He took his coat off that had most of that on it and his scent got much more pleasant. He was pushing his way in, taking hold of the small of my waist with his left arm and caressing my face with his right hand and gave me a kiss that made my heart feel as if it was about to leap from my chest! The kiss was a long one, a kiss that Walter savored and I found myself also savoring. For an undead, he really took care of himself, though I did get faint hints of blood from his kiss. He finally broke it, pushing his face between my breasts while his right hand clamped down on the left one, squishing it as it's tip became erect through the robe and I heard him say something along the lines of, "Oh Asuya, I've wanted this for so long!" What he said was muffled by his lips upon my tanned, unflawed skin. Me? I couldn't speak. I was completely stunned, to the point of almost being unable to stand! Jiangshi barely hurt me, but here I am about to keel over from a kiss and a rather lewd touch! He was now looking to the floor and then at me with his eyes wide. What did I do?! "Did you just...?!" he asked with complete stupor in his voice. I looked down and got immediately embarrassed.
Now we just sat on my bed, Walter now scared to touch me! I was looking at him every now and again, the embarrassment of the previous moment still echoing in my head. He'd look at me as well, giving a sheepish smile. He was so cute when he did that! I had to break the silence, so I said, "I... I'm sorry, I just got excited from your touch..." He looked at me and smiled, "Mhm, yeah, you sure did!" I walloped him on his shoulder and he cackled. I made sure not to hurt him with that slap, my claws no longer sharpened for combat. "It just means I have to be more gentle with you, that's all," he finally said, smiling to me.
Kiname walked in and closed the door. He turned and looked at me with his eyes wide, before he looked at Walter with a frown. I got in front of Kiname. "No, that isn't his fault! Leave him alone, Kiname," I said in a rather irate tone. "It's bad enough I already embarrassed myself..."
Kiname finally said something, "I'll have to give a little bit of an education to both of you. Sil are sensitive to touch, but we can dull pain in combat. Outside of combat, Sil males are twice as sensitive to touch than human males and Sil females are five times as sensitive as human females. Both of you need to be mindful of that if you're really going to give this... relationship thing a try." Walter looked at him and blinked. Even I wondered where he was getting his information from---something him and I would have to discuss later. "Why do I feel like Kiname is now your father rather than your brother?" Walter snidely asked. Kiname retorted before I could get a word in. "I'm her big brother and she's my responsibility," Kiname said and Walter countered with, "Oh yeah? I watched her since the seventies and I never saw hide or hair of you." That must've cut deep, because Kiname went quiet.
Walter got his hat---which must've fell during the kiss---and trench coat, before leaning down to me to kiss me, which I returned the kiss as I was sitting on my bed again. He then, looked at Kiname with a bit of regret in his expression, leaving the room soon after. I looked over to Kiname who went to sit down in one of the chairs at the table. Walter did bring up a good point, but a point that had an answer. I knew that Kiname was looking for the "Original Five" before he came looking for me. He had time to kill, because I haven't fully awakened yet to my Sil capabilities and without that, he couldn't find me anyways. Kiname looked at me and nodded, satisfied I knew why he was not around.
Kiname and I just sat in silence until it was time for our five hours of sleep. I think I would just... directly visit Bobby and set him straight tomorrow. Let's hope his reaction to my direct approach isn't as stupid as him hiring assassins to end me. I felt my back fully heal, something I avoided telling Walter for obvious reasons, and let much needed sleep take me.