Chapter 9
Shinbe’s trench coat fluttered out around him in the updraft, as he landed on the roof of the Wal-Mart building. He had felt the newly awakened power of the crystal’s talisman and the locator spell he’d just performed had led him to this location.
The guardian closed his amethyst eyes when he sensed the seductive aura of not one but two talismans within the walls below him. A frown settled on his face as he became aware of the number of souls surrounding the two sacred pieces of crystal… so many humans and a good deal of them children. That was a problem since the whole building was now crawling with evil entities.
“This is not a safe place to battle demons,” Shinbe mused and looked down at the parking area full of vehicles.
He arched an eyebrow at the group of non-humans that were suddenly standing there in front of the store. Among them were the Sun Gods. Good, they would be able to handle the demons and PIT would probably be close behind to help them evacuate the store of humans. He would give them the time they needed to do so. No matter what they did to the demons, the crystal would not be harmed… for it was immortal.
The guardians had been careful to keep the shattered crystal a secret from the paranormal investigation teams for, even though PIT was considered an ally, there were many demons inside the organization that did not need the temptation distracting them.
One thing that seemed to be working in their favor was the fact that the slivers of crystal were extremely hard to find and most demons wouldn’t know what they were looking at, even if they came face to face with one. A demon had to touch one to figure it out.
Luckily, the demons that had realized it was a power source were under the delusion that they possessed the only one of its kind. Those demons were smart enough not to share their secret with other demons, lest it be taken from them.
Shinbe lifted his amethyst gaze to the sky knowing he was the only one that could see the florescent blue barrier that encased the whole city under a transparent dome. Since it was his spell, only he could feel the life-forces that passed through its walls.
His eyes darkened attractively as he felt their priestess caress his barrier before breaching it. He felt the longing to go to her but stilled himself, refusing to leave the newly found talismans in the hands of the demons below him.
He would have to wait until PIT was finished, then he would simply move in and collect the talismans. That didn’t mean he had to be patient about it. He would lend them a hand without their knowledge in order to speed things along.
The rings on the end of his staff jingled lightly as he raised it up, and then brought the butt down with a strong thump. His lips began moving silently and the staff took on a familiar amethyst glow.
Shinbe released the staff and stepped back before pressing the palms of his hands together as though in prayer. The staff remained standing upright while the amethyst magic seeping from it began to twirl like the blades of a fan. The staff circled around him creating another circle of light. Ancient writings filled in the circle’s outer edge and lit up the darkness.
Quickly reaching out, Shinbe took hold of his staff as it circled past him and brought it down once more on the rooftop.
With his lips still moving, whispering the incantation, the light suddenly fell to the surface of the roof and pushed outward from his feet, coating the entire building and trapping the demons inside, along with the pieces of the talisman. No evil would be leaving the building this night.
Taking a deep breath and giving a slight nod in satisfaction, Shinbe stepped to the edge of the roof once more and looked down into the parking lot. Without hesitation, he stepped off the edge of the building. Landing on the ground with the grace of a guardian, he watched curiously as more PIT members arrived and noticed Tasuki was among the ones entering the building.
The wailing of sirens made him turn his head to see an ambulance pulling in, followed by a fire truck and several police cars. The police were to be expected considering who and what they were these days. Seeing the ambulance had come to a stop in front of the store, Shinbe grinned, deciding if he had to wait then at least he wouldn’t be bored.
***** Chad stopped just inside the front doors in time to see two small children slide across the floor on their bellies like a freakin slip and slide and the accompanying yell.
“TALLY HO YOU LITTLE MESSED UP MUNCHKINS!”
“Kane,” Chad yelled, knowing the Sun God could hear him. “Stop terrorizing the children.”
“They’re not throwing food at you, so shut up,” Kane yelled back. “They want to play, so I’m playing with them.”
Chad raised an eyebrow when Kane came into view covered with a mixture of something that Chad couldn’t identify.
Vincent tilted his head to the side with an amused expression while Micah laughed loudly. What made it even more amusing was the fact that Kane had a fully cooked turkey leg in his hand and was holding it over his head like a battle-axe, while chasing a child.
“Alrighty then,” Chad muttered with a raised eyebrow.
“And that’s one of your Sun Gods,” Vincent asked, since Chad had told him about the brothers on the ride over. He recognized Kane’s name as one of them but seriously… this was nowhere near what he had pictured in his mind.
“Afraid so,” Chad answered, wishing Kane would behave. “You’ll get used to Kane though. He has a lot of moments like this but do not, under any circumstances, piss him off.”
Chad’s expression went blank when two fully shifted wolves ran past him and into the store… followed by a bunch of cops in uniform.
“What the hell,” he complained at their logic. “There are still people in the store for crying out loud. The last thing they need to see is oversized wild wolves to add to the list of monsters.”
“Have you seen my grandmother,” Tasuki asked, scanning the store and not liking what he was seeing.
Micah looked back at Tasuki, who had come in the door behind them and frowned. “Are you saying that Mrs. Tully’s in here somewhere?”
“Her car is in the parking lot,” Tasuki informed him, starting to panic.
“Calm down Tasuki, I’m right here,” Mrs. Tully called out, as she exited the self-checkout lane.
Tasuki nearly sagged in relief. “What are you doing at Wal-Mart after dark? Don’t you know that’s not safe in a normal city… much less this one?”
“I always come here at this time of night,” Mrs. Tully informed her overprotective grandson, in a tone that said she didn’t want any argument out of him. “It’s the only time I can move freely without playing bumper cars with my shopping cart.”
“Yes grandma but,” Tasuki snapped his mouth shut when she gave him that look.
Mrs. Tully glanced at Chad and frowned. “You, young man, need to get all these demon infected brats under control before they hurt someone. I’ve already had my fill of two of them, a little girl and some scamp that thinks he’s Spiderman.”
Micah was smirking again, “We’ll get them for you Mrs. Tully.”
“And Micah,” she continued, walking up to him and giving him the once over. “I haven’t laid eyes on you since you were rescued and nearly died while in my care. I take it there aren’t any lingering side effects?”
Micah smiled softly, “I’m as good as new.”
They all froze when a black eyed child of about six years of age slipped out from behind the self-checkout register to stop directly behind Mrs. Tully. It wasn't the child that had everyone confused on what to do… it was the fact that the child had a dark shadow in the shape of a huge snake wrapped around its small body.
Tasuki suddenly reacted, pulling his grandmother out of the way just as the snake reared back in what they all knew was a striking motion. He cried out in pain when what he thought was only phantom fangs became very real and sliced into his thigh. On instinct, he grabbed the other end of the snake and slung it away from him, flinching when its teeth were ripped from his flesh by the momentum.
“Tasuki,” Mrs. Tully gasped, when she saw the blood seeping through his pant leg. She tried to step between Tasuki and the child but her grandson quickly out maneuvered her like a human shield.
“Get her out of here Micah,” Tasuki demanded, while turning a glare on the demon-possessed child that was glaring back at him with emotionless black eyes.
“Those black eyes indicate demon possession,” Vincent whispered confidently, though he stared at the outline of the snake wearily as it slithered back toward the child. “That’s a shadow demon inside that kid and shadow demons are only bloody extensions of something much stronger than it is. There is a big difference in shadow demons and shadow beasts though. Adding a beastie to the mix is overkill.”
Chad got a chill and took a small step back when he saw Tasuki’s soft brown eyes turn amethyst… almost like that of the Sun Gods but the hue was darker.
The snake hissed and wrapped around one of the child’s legs looking very much like it was writhing in pain. The child began to back away from Tasuki, until finally it turned and ran in the opposite direction, so fast that it knocked over the candy stand as it passed.
“What did you just do,” Chad demanded, having thought Tasuki was human all this time.
Tasuki looked at him with a confused expression before finally shrugging his shoulders. “I didn’t do anything but stare at it. Actually, I was waiting for it to attack again.”
Vincent arched an eyebrow and shook his head. The man didn’t have a clue what just happened. Actually, he didn’t either but it had been interesting to witness.
“You might want to get outside and get your ass into an ambulance to have that looked at,” Chad suggested, trying to pay attention to the bigger picture. At the rate he was going, he’d never figure out who was human and who wasn't anyway.
Tasuki glanced down at his leg and nodded, seeing the blood. “Good idea.” He was suddenly reminded of the other lives where he had died due to the demons getting the best of him. For all he knew, that shadow snake was just as poisonous as a real one, if not more so. Becoming lost in his own thoughts, Tasuki walked outside towards the waiting EMS.
“Any idea what that was all about,” Micah asked, scratching his chin and staring after his new friend and partner. He’d seen Tasuki do some strange things lately… strange for a human anyway.
Mrs. Tully shook her head at Micah and silently followed her only grandson out of the store, letting her mind drift back to the past. The strangeness that was Tasuki had started when his childhood crush, Kyoko, had left L.A. with her brother and grandfather in the middle of the night. Tasuki had taken it very badly.
Not long after that, she had received a package from Mr. Hogo and a stern warning that the contents were to be kept confidential and for her eyes only. It was the contents of that package that had both confused and enlightened her, but on occasion Tasuki had given her signs that lent credit to Mr. Hogo’s warning.
The simple fact that she’d seen her grandson heal just as fast as any shifter was the only reason she wasn't freaking out about the snake bite right now. Tasuki had refused to leave the huge house that he’d grown up in and she understood why… he was waiting on Kyoko to return to him.
Tasuki sighed heavily as his grandmother caught up to him and ushered him towards the back of one of the three waiting ambulances. “Really Grandma… I’m fine.”
“Don’t you take that tone with me young man,” Mrs. Tully exclaimed, and pointed at the bed inside. “If you don’t want me to strip your pants off of you right here in the middle of this parking lot so I can check the wound, then I advise you to get up there and sit your little butt down on that gurney so a paramedic can see your leg.”
“That sounds like good advice,” a smooth voice interrupted them. “Climb in and let me decide how bad it is.”
Tasuki slowly turned his head toward the familiar voice and blinked in surprise. “You!”
Mrs. Tully watched them closely, curious about the similarities between Tasuki and the amethyst eyed paramedic. When the man reached down to grasp Tasuki's hand to help him up into the back of the ambulance, she could have sworn she’d seen a spark of strange light stretch between their fingers just before they touched… interesting indeed.
Tasuki paused in the doorway of the vehicle and looked back down at his grandmother, knowing he would never be able to talk freely with her here hovering over him.
“Okay, I promise to stay and get taken care of if you will get out of here. Go home where it’s safe,” Tasuki said in a soft voice, knowing how stubborn she could be. “There are a lot of people in that store right now that might be coming to your clinic later to get their own check-up,” he hinted, since she was the main doctor for the wolf pack, who were now in that store trying to get the demons under control.
Mrs. Tully turned to leave but hesitated and glanced back up at her grandson. “Tasuki, I thank you for saving me in there, but be careful… the next life can wait its turn.”
Both men raised an eyebrow as the elderly lady turned and walked out of sight.
“Did you tell her anything by chance,” Shinbe asked curiously as he straightened and turned to look at his reincarnation.
“Not a word.” Tasuki frowned and hopped up on the bed, throwing his injured leg up on it. “I think it’s already quit bleeding.”
Shinbe turned his head and narrowed his eyes directly on the other man’s leg.
Tasuki jerked when the material of his pants suddenly ripped all by itself and pulled apart, exposing the two puncture wounds that had a long gash running from each one of them.
“Are you trying to freak me out?” Tasuki said, a little louder than he’d meant to. When Shinbe just smirked at him, he sighed and asked, “What are you doing here anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be out hunting down pieces of the crystal?” He unconsciously placed his palm over his ribs where a piece of that same crystal had entered him the night Kyoko had shattered it.
Shinbe pulled the curtain closed to block out anyone from looking into the open doors before he approached Tasuki’s leg.
“I am the reason your Wal-Mart pest problem hasn’t made a run for it yet.” He flattened his palm out a couple inches above the wound. “I have a barrier cast around the store that the demons cannot cross. The possessed children are not the real problem. They are the victims that we need removed. The crystal’s essence is coming from inside that store and that’s the true reason I’m here.”
Tasuki barely paid any attention to what Shinbe was saying because he was too busy watching all the drops of blood lift off his leg and clothing and hover in the air. He cocked an eyebrow when a clean blood bag sat up and literally sucked up all of the blood through its rubber tube.
“What do you plan on doing with that?” Tasuki asked suspiciously, while eyeing the blood bag. He forgot all about the question when a stitching kit floated across the ambulance toward him and ripped open all by itself.
“The stitches on the inside will dissolve on their own,” Shinbe said calmly, as the curved needle shot toward the wound.
“Aren’t you going to numb it,” Tasuki asked in a high pitch voice, but it was useless since by the time he finished the sentence, the free floating thread was already tying off the last stitch.
“And the answer is yes,” Shinbe informed him as the paraphernalia dropped into the hazard waste container.
“Yes to what,” Tasuki asked, knowing damn well it wasn't the part about numbing the wound.
“Yes, I am trying to freak you out,” Shinbe elaborated, looking directly at him with a pointed stare. “You need to be careful or you’re going to get yourself killed before you have a chance to see her.”
“Kyoko?” Tasuki nearly fell off the gurney in an effort to get to his feet. “She’s here?”
Shinbe grabbed a hold of Tasuki's shoulder to stop his headlong rush to exit the ambulance. “Slow down there Romeo. Yes she’s here… in LA. Not in Wal-Mart.”
“How do you know,” Tasuki demanded, feeling his heart race uncontrollably.
“The barrier around the city… it’s mine and I felt her touch it,” Shinbe said, with a dreamy smile, as if he’d felt Kyoko touch him, not his barrier.
Tasuki paused, “How long ago?”
Shinbe pretended to look at a watch he didn’t have on his wrist, then back at Tasuki with a grin on his face. “About twenty minutes ago.”
“Where, where on the barrier did she touch,” Tasuki asked, wanting to meet her half way.
Shinbe dropped his hand from Tasuki's shoulder and turned to grab his staff off the small bench behind him. “The only clue I have is that I felt her power caress mine.” The corner of his lips softened leaving behind a serene smile.
He felt the vehicle rock from Tasuki's quick departure and shook his head. He didn’t mind giving the boy a head start on the rest of the guardians... he would need it.
The amethyst-eyed guardian sighed longingly as he exited the ambulance and nodded to the original EMT that was returning to his post. Needing a distraction while he waited, Shinbe let his mind drift back through the lifetimes he had shared with Kyoko.
One memory haunted him more than others, making his grip tighten on his staff. Pushing the unwanted memory away, he focused on one that was more to his liking, and let it soothe his mind for a moment. The memory was so fresh that it was hard for him to believe it hadn’t happened within this lifetime.
He had been secretly watching Kyoko bathe in the hot-springs, when his sightseeing had been disrupted by a demon that dared to attack her. He’d been injured protecting her but it had been worth it in the end. He let the memory come back to life within his mind’s eye and surround him… blocking out the present world for a moment.
With his hand pressed over the wound in his side, he turned his attention back to Kyoko and silently watched her run to get the towel she’d discarded in her haste to help him. His gaze roamed over her body, completely forgetting about the pain he was in.
'She has forgotten that she is still unclothed,' Shinbe mused. 'Well, I’m not going to remind her.' He tried to keep his face calm a s she came back with the towel.
Kyoko sat down beside him, tugging on his trench coat, trying to see the wound. "Shinbe, do you think you can remove this," she fingered the cloth. "I need to see where all of this blood is coming from."
Her voice was still breathless and soft to his ears, almost seductive sounding. He was so mystified about how much she really cared that he forgot to fantasize about her asking him to take off his clothes.
Shinbe removed his robe-like coat and undid the icy-blue shirt underneath. It fell off his shoulders and slid down his arms to lie in a pool around him, baring his chest and taut stomach muscles to her, along with the gash near his hip bone.
He reached down and pushed that side of the loose pants down a couple inches, so she could better see the wound, but left his arm across his lap to hide the evidence of his erection.
Kyoko swallowed as she tried to stay focused on the wound, instead of what surrounded it. Placing a hand across his exposed skin to steady herself, she pressed firmly with the white cloth, watching it turn crimson. She felt his muscles bounce under her palm and it sent heat shooting up her arm. Her startled emerald eyes rose to his, locking with his amethyst gaze.
He noticed the blush spread across her cheeks as their gaze met and wondered at it, feeling his own flesh heat where her soft hand was touching him.
"Kyoko, are you all right?" He watched her nod weakly as she looked back down at the towel, removing it gently to see if the bleeding had stopped. Seeing that it had, she went to wet the cloth so she could clean the rest of the blood off him.
Shinbe looked down thinking to himself, 'No wonder it quit bleeding, all the blood has rushed to another destination.’ He sighed, quickly clearing the thought away, as she came back and kneeled over him, giving him another view of her bra-clad breasts. His darkening amethyst eyes darted back to hers. He knew she had to put some clothes on if he was to keep his dignity.
Kyoko was slowly wiping the blood from his skin, making sure to be very, very gentle, when she heard him say her name in a husky, strained voice.
She stopped her movements and lifted her face towards his. The way she was leaning into him, she found herself only mere inches from his face. His eyes glowed and he seemed so much larger than life at that moment. Her gaze slowly lowered to his lips, as neither of them said a word.
Shinbe watched her lips part and his body moved with a will of its own as he closed the distance between them. He brushed his lips across hers in a feather-light kiss that was only the calm before the storm… his breath heated across her cheek.
That was when a roaring blur of red and black slammed into him causing pain to once again shoot through the wound that his guardian powers had just started healing.
Shinbe was hauled backward and slammed into the ground by a very enraged Toya, who now stood above him, pointing one of his twin daggers directly at his brother’s throat.
"What the hell do you think you are doing kissing Kyoko, you bastard?" Toya screamed, shaking with rage. The sight of Shinbe kissing Kyoko was forever burned into his retinas. "I left her in your care and you decide to molest her," he yelled, infuriated.
Shinbe's amethyst eyes darkened to a deep purple.
Kyoko quickly slid between them, her back to Shinbe, as if protecting him. Glaring up at Toya, she demanded, "Don’t you dare! " She threw out her hands in a shielding gesture. "It’s not what you think, Toya."
Toya lowered his dagger with a snarl, "Oh yeah, then why the hell are you naked?" His silver gaze lowered to he r bare skin to make his point.
Kyoko's world came crashing down on her, and she just knew the gods were laughing about it as she froze in mortification. She felt the cool breeze across her bare skin and could feel Toya's eyes heating her skin just as fast. Dropping her arms back to her sides, her gaze sought out her clothing, seeing they were laying on the rock not far away.
Snapping her gaze back to Toya’s, she hissed, "I was attacked and Shinbe saved my life. I was helping him because he was wounded protecting me, and so what? I kissed him, big deal, it was a thank you!"
She tried to ease her way out from between them and toward her clothes, but changed her mind when Toya again pointed the dagger at Shinbe's throat.
"You asked her for a kiss as a reward for saving her? You damned pervert!” Toya growled out, now even more furious with the guardian. Then with one quick jerk, he grabbed Kyoko's arm, pulling her behind him and out of his brother’s sight.
Shinbe's eyes flashed with anger at Toya's treatment of Kyoko. “Put the blade away, Toya," his words began to ice as he stood up brushing his pants off, his chest still bare. He towered over Toya menacingly, being the taller of the two, getting ready to fly into him. After all… no one had ever called him a coward.
Shinbe slowly came back from the vivid memory, no longer feeling anger caused by Toya’s temper at having caught them kissing. That kiss had only been an innocent prelude to much more pleasurable things that Toya hadn’t had a chance in hell of stopping.
