"Oh, I'm sure you're pretty good, but uh, something's missing."
Yoshi laughed this time. "And how would you know, when's the last time you wielded a sword or fought a battle."
The old woman chuckled. "I'm going to laugh at ya because you're cute." She dropped her smile and leaned into Yoshi as she stared into twin orbs of blue. "But make no mistake warrior, I could knock ya on your ass without even touching you."
Yoshi watched the old woman sit back and it was only through stringent discipline that she was able to hide the shiver that ran through her. She believed this woman, ghost or not, and knew her words to be true. Yoshi bowed her head to the woman and spoke sincerely. "I apologize for offending you."
Warm fingers touched Yoshi's chin and lifted her head. "You are so lost. I'm not going TA hurt you. I'm here TA help ya."
"Help me do what?"
"Be a great warrior." Her voice was playful and made Yoshi laugh. "Really, I just want you TA survive."
"Do you know what's coming?"
"Evil is too easy a name for it, but it will do none of us any good and it must be stopped."
"Can you help me do that?" Her voice was soft and on the edge of pleading. "You got a potion or a spell anything?" She gave the woman a weak smile.
"I have no potion but I do have a word of advice."
"No offense, but I'm am chock full of advice."
The old woman laughed. "Perhaps if ya listened TA some of it ya could get rid of it."
"Ow." Yoshi winced to absorb the verbal assault.
"You know I'm telling you the truth." Warm brown eyes gazed at the nodding warrior. "So do you think you can make room for a little more?"
"I might be able to squeeze you in between eating my vegetables and remembering to floss."
The old woman chuckled. "Sense of humor, very good."
"Actually, I just got that back." Yoshi's smiled reached her eyes this time as her thoughts reached Clarion.
The old woman smiled and knew without asking who was on Yoshi's mind. "You must trust her." Blue eyes met soft brown and Yoshi could only listen. "You must trust yourself and above all else, you must let go."
"Let go of what?" A voice was a whisper.
"Everything." The old woman opened her arms and raised her head to sky for a moment. "Let it all go. What you know, what you think you know, what you don't know, all of it. Nothing here is what it seems, it always warrants a second look. All though sometimes the simplest answer is correct, most of the time the truth is wrapped in the unfathomable. You must let it go or you will die without trying. In the end no amount of steel will save you. In the end it will not come down TA who punches harder. You must let it go Hunter, or you will not triumph."
"But I've let everything go." Yoshi's voice was tinged with frustration and sadness. "I have nothing to hold ontowell almost nothing."
The old woman watched a faint blush spread up the precise and angular features of the dark woman's face and she grinned. "Hold onto dat. Everything else," she wiped her hand through the air, "let it go. Start with what you have and then go from there."
"What is it that I have?" Her words were barely audible.
"Ya know what you have and dat is all dat is important, because the rest will crush you." Yoshi looked up at the woman with weary blue eyes. "Every demon you have inside you, every evil you've never completely vanquished, all the dark corners you have failed to illuminate will come crashing down on you if you don't let go."
Yoshi furrowed her brow. "But that's what makes me who I am?" It was a question and not a statement.
Soft hands caressed Yoshi's face again, sending a feeling of warmth through the tall warrior. "Perhaps it is time for a rebirth." The air seemed to still around the two women as the force of the woman's words began to solidify in Yoshi's conscious and understanding spread through her body following the path of her blood. The old woman removed her hand and sat back as she watched the warrior comprehend her statement. "It's time for you to go Hunter or she will worry."
Yoshi jerked her head in the direction of the woman's voice and then stood. She was gone. Yoshi just smiled and knew it would be no use to search the house or even cast her gaze on the clearing, the old woman had disappeared just as quietly as she had appeared. With a breathless thank you to the woman, Yoshi bowed deeply at the waist and then ran off to the steel door that would lead her back to Clarion.
CH 6: "…All this and more, Tonight, on 60 minutes."
Colin was all breath when he blew through the door of 'The Orchid.' "Boys!" He bellowed with open arms to the two wide eyed young men behind the counter.
"Hey there Colin." They both said in unison.
Colin walked up to the counter and blew out a breath as if he had been running. "What's happening fine gentlemen?"
The newly pink-haired Nate shook his head at the smiling Colin. "Nothing much Colin, how's things with you?"
"Well I'll tell you there Nate my boy, not that damn good." He looked at both boys.
"Do you want to speak with Gregor?" Tully leaned down on the counter as he spoke.
Colin entwined his fingers and shrugged. "Well boys if Gregor can help me then I'm all for it." Nate just nodded as he went into the back to find Gregor.
Gregor emerged with Nate moments later and the four men stood in an understanding silence for a brief moment until Colin spoke.
"Okay guys I'm hoping one of you can help me out here."
"Sure, what do you need Colin?" Gregor sat down on the stool and folded his arms across his chest.
"Well for starters boyle, I need to know where the fuck that amazon is." He roughly ran a hand through his hair.
"Have some tea Colin and sit." Nate pushed a small cup towards Colin.
He raised both brow mischievously. "Got anything to go in it?"
"Once a lush always a lush." Gregor's comment elicited laughter from the four. "So what's up?"
Colin took a sip of the tea and made a face. "Don't know how she drinks this shit." He mumbled and then pushed the cup away. "Anyway, so what's up. That's precisely the question or maybe the answer and I know you guys are well aware."
Tully grinned knowingly. "You mean how quiet it is?"
"No shit. It's too fucking quiet. In fact it's quiet everywhere."
Gregor sat forward. "What do you mean?"
Colin sighed with nervous energy and shrugged out of his jacket. "I'm saying they're fucking gone is what. Just gone, like vanished….all of them." Three "whats?" rang out and Colin nodded. "I went home the other week just to check in and all the dens are empty. I mean like ghost towns. There's one or two lowly stragglers, but all the lieutenants and all the big boys and such are gone. Everybody that matters has cleared out."
"No foolin?"
"None. I called Hamish and he said the same. I Got in touch with Zibu in Soweto, Tristan in Australia…nothing. Same thing with all the others I could find. Something's wrong."
"Are you serious?" Gregor stood.
"Fucking shit yeah I'm serious. This is not good and I haven't a clue what's going on, so I was hoping our stoic warrior cum leader had an answer or two."
Nate and Tully looked at one another. "She's probably got no clue." Nate replied.
"Am I to assume you talked to her?"
"Uh, yeah, yeah. She sent an email about two days ago wishing us happy new year and all that, didn't say a thing."
"So you know where she is?" Both boys shrugged. "You think you can find her?"
"Maybe. But she sent it from a library or something, um she'll probably get back in touch though as soon as she realizes."
"Shit." Colin groaned and ruffled his hair. "Is she with Clarion?"
Nate answered. "Guess so, but she didn't say."
"Fuck me." Colin huffed. "All right look here's the deal, Gregor go through some of your books and see what you can find. You two," he pointed at Nate and Tully. ", see if you can get in touch with her and find her. I got to get to her and fast."
They all nodded. "We're on it." Nate replied.
"Okay." Colin tapped his hands on the counter. "I'm going to go to her place for a day or so, so I'll be there. After that, I'll check in with you guys. Please, guys we got to get on this cause I can feel it…something ain't right and whatever it is it's bad."
"You think they got Clarion?" Tully asked the unwanted question.
Colin sighed. "I hope the hell not, but if Yoshi is with her then you can bet they don't have her… at least as long as she's alive." He paused less for dramatic effect and more for hoping he wasn't willing something to happen. "Look, I know she's still alive, that I know for sure, but we need to find them both for all our goods."
Gregor patted Colin on the shoulder. "We'll find her don't worry."
Colin nodded and smiled. "All right boys," he touched fists with the three of them ", let's get this done."
He left in the same rushed breeze of motion that he entered with leaving the three remaining men to their own private musings. None of them spoke a word as they each retreated to their respective corners of the store and began the search to find Yoshi and figure out what was going on.
------
Yoshi was calling out Clarion's name as she dropped her sword in the bedroom. Yoshi leaned her tall frame into the dark openings and called Clarion's name repeatedly. A moment before anxiety got the best of her Yoshi made her way to the kitchen and found the redhead. All though as Yoshi stood wide eyed in the archway, it seemed that Clarion had found her. A sly smile graced her features and green eyes were hooded in want, as Clarion stood in the middle of the kitchen in a silk purple robe that barely closed. Yoshi was doing her best to focus on the fact that she had come back in a frantic state, but her heart seemed to be pounding for a very different reason. The dark warrior could only swallow as she watched Clarion lick her lips.
"Hungry, Samurai?" The way she asked the question they both knew she wasn't talking about food.
Yoshi blinked her eyes rapidly, open and closed her mouth, and shook her head in a desperate attempt to say something, but nothing came out. As if her feet were welded to the concrete, she could do nothing but stand with her arms braced against the archway, and watch as Clarion sauntered towards her. She looked to be carrying a handful of grapes, but blue eyes were holding fast to the flesh that was revealed as Clarion glided towards her. The length of the robe trailed behind her as Clarion grew near, giving a regal air to her person. Blue eyes followed the path of flesh up until she was locked in Clarion's vermilion gaze. The red head came to a stop in front of Yoshi leaving barely an inch of space between their bodies.
"You have a nice walk?" Yoshi could only nod. "I was worried." Clarion took hold of grape and bit down on it before letting the purple orb disappear behind white teeth. "I wanted to say that I was really sorry."
Yoshi felt like her heart was going to explode and her insides were going to melt. She blinked rapidly and heard her voice crack as she tried to talk. She cleared her throat and began again. "I…I was getting that impression."
Clarion let the small grin work its way onto her face as she watched the tall woman struggle. With a deliberate slowness she spoke, as she raised a grape to Yoshi's full lips. "So, do you think," with gentle pressure Yoshi's lips parted to accept the grape and Clarion's finger as well. ", we can kiss and make up?" Clarion removed her finger only after she felt the warmth of Yoshi's tongue wrap around it.
The warrior swayed and blinked slowly as Clarion removed her finger. She swallowed hard before she sputtered out, "I think we can do that." Clarion's features rose as she smiled with lascivious intent. She raised up on her tiptoes to give Yoshi a kiss only to watch Yoshi take a step back. Clarion raised an eyebrow and Yoshi shook her head and held up her hands. "I- I, um yeah," she shook her head as she gathered her thoughts and tried not to look at the smoldering green eyes of Clarion. ", kiss and make up is great." She took another step back as Clarion began to take a step forward. "But…first we need to talk."
Clarion smiled. "Fine we can talk and then make up."
Yoshi nodded and then realized she was backing herself into a corner as Clarion moved towards her again. Yoshi shut her eyes tightly and fought the urge to just tear the flimsy robe from Clarion's body and devour her on the floor. Finally, with strength she had long forgotten about, she placed her hands under Clarion's armpits and lifted the woman off the floor as she walked into the kitchen with her. Clarion could only gasp at the sudden movement and what was excitement on her part turned to confusion as Yoshi put her down next to the stove and then proceeded to walk all the across the room back to the arch way.
Yoshi squeezed the bridge of her nose and sighed. "You just stay over there."
Clarion managed to curtail the wide grin that was threatening to break across her face. She even tried to remove some of the seductive tone from her voice as she spoke. "I thought we were talking Yoshi."
Blue eyes darted everywhere around the kitchen except on Clarion. "We are talking."
"But you're all the way over there."
"I know, I know. Can you um, uh.." She trailed off and closed the gap between her Clarion as she took a moment to close her robe and then she retreated back to her side of the room.
Clarion didn't hold back the smile this time. "You want me to put on some baggy pants or something."
Yoshi smiled weakly and looked at Clarion sheepishly. "I doubt if that will help."
Clarion chuckled. "Well at least you're not mad."
"I want to be mad." Yoshi leaned back against the wall and shoved her hands in her pockets. "But I'm more curious than anything."
"About what?" Clarion leaned down on the counter."
Blue eyes rolled as Yoshi contemplated her answers. "For starters, I had a ten minute conversation with a dead woman."
Clarion's eyes went wide with glee as she clapped her hands together. "How is Mama D?"
Yoshi let out a sigh and mumbled, "Of course you're not surprised."
"Whenever I come home she always pops up, I would have thought she would just retired and go sit on a cloud somewhere." She smiled. "So how is she?"
Yoshi shrugged and kept telling herself to go with the flow. "She's great gave me some good advice and all that."
"She's always doing that. So, anyway what's the big deal?" She wagged her finger at the Samurai. "It still amazes me that you get freaked out about this stuff, I mean I know you've probably seen a dragon or Warlocks and witches and things. Sometimes, I think you forget how old you are."
Yoshi rubbed her back. "My body doesn't all the time."
Clarion arched a brow. "What did you do out there tonight?"
Yoshi seemed to perk up at the question as she moved away from the wall and walked towards the counter. "That's what I want to talk to you about. What do you know about the Vampires around here?"
Clarion groaned. "Nothing I care to remember really."
"Seriously."
"I am being serious. I left here so I wouldn't have to remember any of them and no matter how many times I come back I do my best to stay out of their way." Clarion hopped onto the counter. "Why?"
"I ran into a couple tonight."
"What!" Clarion raised her head with such a quickness that she banged it into the cabinet behind her. "Son of a bitch!"
Yoshi stifled her laugh when she knew Clarion was okay. "You all right?"
Clarion mumbled and hopped off the counter. "Yeah, yeah," she said while rubbing the spot on her head, "but how bout we go somewhere where the walls won't attack me."
Yoshi stood up right and thrust her finger at Clarion. "No bedroom!"
Clarion put her hands on her hips and managed to glare at Yoshi instead of bursting into giggles. "Get your mind out of the gutter, I thought we were talking."
Yoshi let out a relieved breath. "After you then." Clarion nodded and walked out of the kitchen with such a sway, that Yoshi had to fan herself and concentrate on her walking. They made there way into the sitting room, where Clarion stretched out on the couch and Yoshi relaxed in cushy arm chair. She slumped down in the chair and her back thanked her for it, as she caught Clarion's gaze. "All right Larieux, spill it."
CH 7: "Not going anywhere for a while?"
Clarion made herself comfortable as she sat back on the throw pillows and rested her arm on the back of the sofa. "Where do you want me to start?" Clarion was trying to sound enthusiastic but this was not how she had planned to be spending time with Yoshi once she returned.
"I want to know about the sword, about Magnus, about the Vampires around here, why I went blind tonight, and mostly what kind of Vampires have zombies for friends." Yoshi finished ticking off her list on her fingers and raised her eyes to see a wide eyed Clarion who was sitting on the edge of the couch.
"Please tell me that's the script you just sent in for an episode of Buffy?"
A black eyebrow lifted at the absurdity of the question. "That show is so not realistic." She was completely serious.
Clarion physically closed her gaping jaw with her hand and shook her head. She opened her mouth to say something and then shook her head again. "Okay, well that's a conversation best left for naked time, so let's just ignore that and attend to the seriousness of the issue." Yoshi just nodded. "What do you mean you were blind?"
Yoshi sat up in the chair and leaned forward as she tugged at the laces of her boots. "Just that. One second, I was fine, my eyesight was perfect, and the next thing I know I wiping dust out of my eyes and then everything was gone."
Clarion furrowed her brow and nibbled on her lip as she thought of her next question. "You mean the dust made everything blurry so you closed your eyes or your retinas detached?"
"The second one."
Clarion huffed and tousled her hair. "You sure it was a Vampire?"
"Absolutely. I know a Vampire when I come in to contact with one and I'm not that easily fooled…" She clipped her words as she looked in Clarion's direction and saw the redhead fighting a smirk. Yoshi started to stick out her bottom lip, but then realized that the action would probably cause Clarion to get all sappy and Yoshi was working on being focused and angered. "Anyway, I know it was a Vampire and he practically admitted it. So what are you thinking?"
"Ya' see, Voodoo, Santeria, whatever you want to call it, it doesn't mix well with Vampires." Clarion crossed her legs underneath her. "It's things like Voodoo that have been used to void off Vampires. Generally, it's considered a curse for the dead to walk to earth especially when somebody causes it. Contrary to popular belief real Voodoo isn't evil and amoral. It's religion plain and simple…it's faith. Take a heaping handful of Catholicism and mix it up with all the religious practices that the Slaves left Africa with and you have Voodoo. "
Yoshi raised a skeptical eyebrow. "But Clarion, this is N'awlins." She mimicked the woman's accent perfectly, which elicited a grin from Clarion.
"True, true cher. But I'm just wondering what's changed around here to allow for that to happen. Some things just are the way they are."
"But you practice."
"But I was human for the first 16 years of my life. I had no clue I was dead woman walking until it became painfully obvious."
"But you still practiced."
Green eyes met blue. "Because I had no want to become a monster." They were silent for a moment as Clarion's words hung thickly in the room. She patted her thighs and winked at Yoshi. "How about a drink?"
Yoshi nodded. "That probably wouldn't be bad." Clarion walked to a cabinet on the far side of the room and sat in front of it as she removed two snifters and bottle of Cognac. Yoshi eyed the bottle and grinned. "1827?"
Clarion chuckled and sat the bottle down on the coffee table that sat between the two arms chairs. She sat down in the other chair with a chuckle. "Nah, 1932. But it was still a good year." A wicked grin cut across Clarion's face and Yoshi just shook her head. "All right, so you said your Vampire had zombies with him?"
"That's what they seemed to be and I had a time getting rid of them."
"Did you use the gris-gris?" After a moment of swirling the snifter Yoshi grunted in the affirmative. Clarion held back her smile. "If it is a Vampire, he's very good. When you couldn't see did he say anything to you?"
"Uh, he just said something about seeing what I couldn't and then the next thing I knew, it was dark."
Clarion nodded. "What about when it came back?"
"He told me to believe what I wanted."
Clarion tugged at her lip. "Whoever he is or whatever, he's very good, very powerful. He's practiced is what. Hmm."
"What?" Yoshi turned in her chair and looked at Clarion's profile as she contemplated her last statement.
"I just don't remember anybody like that?"
"Perhaps a human that was turned?"
"Yeah that makes sense." Clarion sipped at her drink. "Okay, okay, I can deal with this. All though my question to you is how did they find us so fast?"
"I've been thinking that for a while, but I didn't get the feeling he knew about you or more over why I might be here. It seemed like a test, like he was sizing me up." She stretched her legs out over the arm of the chair. "And that's the other thing, the vamp I fought used a sword."
Clarion didn't flinch as she sipped casually from her glass. She sensed the question in Yoshi's voice and turned towards her. "Is that unusual or something?"
Yoshi grinned. "Pretty rare these days. Hasn't really been in practice for about two centuries."
"Well, well. So, we've got Voodoo practicing Vampires, who have zombies for lackeys, and they are partial to traditional warfare."
Yoshi shrugged. "Sounds like a fair synopsis."
Clarion smiled. "Well good, cause that's all I got pahtna'."
Yoshi shared her smile. "So now that we've done the hard stuff, why don't you tell me about the easy stuff."
Clarion groaned and slouched in her chair. "Can't we go get naked now?"
Yoshi refused to be baited by Clarion's whining. She sat up in the chair and shook her head at Clarion. "That's not working, you promised me the whole story, and I want to know about the blade."
"What's to know?"
"Larieux." Yoshi glared at Clarion, causing the smaller woman to look away. "I'll pout."
Green eyes twinkled. "Will you really?"
"Never mind. Come on Clarion, tell me about Magnus's sword."
Clarion blew out a breath that lifted her bangs and refreshed her drink. "I'll spare you the David Copperfield version because I haven't got the patience nor do I remember all the details."
"Just get on with it." Yoshi flicked a droplet of Cognac at Clarion.
Green eyes bored into blue with an amused disbelief. "Hey that's rare stuff." Yoshi just rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. "Do that one more time and this information session will have to wait." Yoshi held Clarion's gaze for a moment until she conceded defeat with a slight bowing of her head.
Clarion ran both her hands through her hair and then picked up her glass. "Now I don't know if you heard a different story about Magnus, but the one I heard is this huge epic about a full grown man being berthed by the sea." Yoshi nodded. "So whatever, he makes this kick ass sword and lives his life only to one day have to face down the very first Master. The way it was explained in the text, when Magnus was created, it was with the purity of angels or some such crap. But in all things the opposite took place as well, thus Pilas was too created. Pilas was pure as well, but he was evil."
Yoshi had stopped sipping from her glass and turned her full attention the woman next to her as she followed the words of the story like she had never heard them before. In truth, she knew the story inside and out, but as the words fell from Clarion's lips, the dark woman found herself closing her eyes and watching the pictures that her words made play out before her.
"As the story goes, they battled for years away from each other, cutting apart each other's legions until finally they had to fight each other. The battle they waged created valleys and cracked the continents and so forth in the way of epic storytelling. Regardless of all the that, it came down to two simultaneous blows. Blades that had clashed against one another and created sparks so bright that they illuminated the sky, plunged into torsos of both men. It was Pilas who first collapsed to the ground, dissolving into the earth. Magnus withdrew his own blade from his body, that had ripped through his chest and stared at the swirling pattern of blood that was his blood mixed with Pilas. Magnus only sighed at his possible fate of becoming like Pilas and wished for death as he walked to the waters edge. There he held his blade at his side and descended into the waters from which he came, letting it wash over him and swallow him whole. Supposedly Magnus never died, but he submitted his essence and body to waters and it is out of that water that every Hunter is formed in some way, shape, or form."
Дата добавления: 2015-11-04; просмотров: 26 | Нарушение авторских прав
| <== предыдущая лекция | | | следующая лекция ==> |