Cole's Haunting Melody (The Gods' Executioner Series) (15 page)

“Cole, I have discovered something; it might be nothing, but it seems a little too coincidental. At each of the five murder locations, there was a fatal mugging in the area. I do not know what
it means yet, but I think they are connected. I will bring it up with Ryuji when he awakens.” Naia reports.

“
You know the orders: no witnesses. Make it look like a mugging.”
The memory of Jarrett’s voice, Cheza’s dead Templar ex-boyfriend, echoes in my mind.

“Don’
t bother, Naia. I know who’s behind this: the Templars. Look into possible Templar activity in Japan and have Ryuji do the same please. I need to get some rest. Goodnight Naia.” I reply.

“Sleep well, Cole.”

…

Chapter 15: Murder at an Amusement Park

[November 6th]

I awaken at midnight the next day to find Cheza staring at me. She looks away with flushed cheeks when she sees that I’m awake.

“Jeez Cole!
You’ve slept for nearly sixteen hours!” Cheza complains.

“I was just catching up from not sleeping at all the past two nights since I don’t really sleep when I scan someone’s memories.
What were you staring at?” I reply.

“What? Oh, I was looking at your aura again. I could swear that some of the silver cracks have faded and it has gotten blacker, but it could just be my imagination…
anyway, Ryuji called about an hour ago; he said he’s found something.” Cheza informs me.

“Alright, I guess I’d better get going.” I say
and stand up out of bed.

“I’m coming to
o.” Cheza tells me as she gets out of bed.

“Why?” I
ask as we head into the bathroom. Cheza and I strip down and jump in the shower.

“Is there some reason that you don’t want me to come?” Cheza inquires as she turns on the shower.

“Perhaps because my presence would put a damper on your efforts to start a harem of sexy Japanese fox-girls?” Cheza asks.

“What? That’s ridiculous
! I don’t even want a harem; I have all the action I can stand between you and Natasha.” I deny while scrubbing up.

“Is that so…” Cheza quietly replies
, seemingly lost in thought while washing her hair.

We finish our shower and get dressed
; me in jeans and my jacket, Cheza in jeans and her armored jacket from Greenland. I unclip my pouch from the rest of my holster and stick it onto my lower back. Cheza removes her Synergistic blades from the sheath and slides one down each of her thighs, the hilts resting on her hips and concealed by her jacket. I grab her hand, port us to Ryuji’s front door, and knock.

“Hey, come on in.” Ryuji answers.

“So I did some digging around into Templar activity in Japan and found—” Ryuji starts to say, but my phone’s ringing interrupts him.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Cole, there’s been another killing. Chie told me to let you know and ask if you would like to go to the crime scene to see if you can find anything.” Yui says.

“Yeah, I’ll meet you at the temple.
See you soon.” I reply and hang up.

“There’s been another murder so I’m going to the crime scene to investigate.” I announce.

“That’s probably a good idea because I wasn’t able to find anything out about the Templars in Japan, but I did notice something. Inari is the only Shinto god that has been firmly against Loki since the very beginning.” Ryuji informs me.

“Do you think that’s why the
kitsune are getting attacked? Because they’re Inari’s messengers?” I ask.

“I don’t know, I just noticed
it as a possible connection. I’ll keep looking into it, but at this point I can’t even confirm that Templars are in Japan. Are you sure that they’re the ones behind this?” Ryuji asks.

“Not really. When
Naia told me about the mugging fatalities, I remembered something that a Templar had said about eliminating witnesses and making them look like muggings. Well, just keep looking into it and call me if you find anything. See you later.” I reply.

I
grab Cheza’s hand, touch my triskele, and we appear on the pathway lined with Torii gates.

“Hey Cole.”
Yui greets, waving us over.

“Yui, this is
Chezarei, my fiancée. Cheza, this is my friend Yui.” I introduce.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you.” Cheza says.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Yui replies; I don’t know why, but this situation seems to be incredibly awkward.

“Anyway, where is the crime scene?”
I ask while trying to ignore the awkwardness.

“Fukushima; at the
Takakonuma amusement park.” Yui tells me.

“Sweet!
Let’s go! I just need a picture and I can port us there.” I reply.

“I was able to obtain an old park map.” Yui says and hands me a brochure-sized map. I look it over and see rollercoasters and various other rides.

“Where should I port in? Won’t there be people everywhere?” I ask.

“The park is shut down
.” Yui replies.

“Oh, that makes sense
; what with the body and everything. How will we get past the police line?” I inquire.

“They’ll be expecting us.” Yui says.

“So the police know about the supernatural here?” I question.

“The majority of the police forces don’t, but we’re dealing with the supernatural department of law enforcement in Japan.” Yui answers.

“Alright, I’ll just port us to the main gate then; hold on.” I say and hold out my left arm.

Cheza grabs
on and Yui follows suit. I bask in anticipation at the magic of theme parks as I port to the main gate.

A
chill immediately runs up my spine and not one of excitement or because I’m taking a piss… although I just had to check to make sure.

“I thought that when you said that the park was shut down, you meant for the day.” I say as I look at the rusty gate, broken s
ign, and overall state of decay that is barely visible through the dense fog.

“No, it has been closed for nearly fifteen years.” Yui repl
ies and heads through the gate.

I follow after her, despite every nerve in my body screaming at me not to;
the black guy in the movie theater of the slightly racist part of my mind screaming “No bitch, don’t go in there! He gonna kill you!” My helmet even engages involuntarily while Cheza wraps her hand in mine and follows me. Yui’s aura is about fifteen feet in front of me, which is the only thing of hers that I can see with the combination of twilight and fog. We continue through the park until I see multiple fog lights set up, acting as a perimeter.

At the center of the fog
lights is the body of a kitsune with four tails, and this one is male; oh, and he also has about ten bullet holes in him, which I determine is the cause of death because I’m obviously Sherlock Holmes in this investigation. There are roughly a dozen people doing various things around the body, and Yui is chatting with a woman with long black hair that reaches her lower back; the woman has her arms folded underneath her sizable breasts and looks none too happy about our intrusion. I hear them speaking Japanese for only a second before my helmet starts translating.

“Okay, just tell him to be careful with the crime scene and to be back here before the sunset
.” The woman says to Yui.

“Did you catch that?” Yui asks.

“Si.” I reply.

“What?” Yui asks
, perplexed.

“Yes, I did. Be back before sunset and don’t fuck anything up; got it.
I’ll take a look around and let you know if I find anything. Can you ask the detective for some rubber gloves and evidence bags?” I ask and Yui relays my request. The detective’s long black hair reaches into her pocket and removes a pair of gloves while her arms stay folded.

“
You’re not designated to catalogue evidence; just tell someone if you find something.” The detective says with some disdain as her hair dangles the gloves in front of me.

“She’
s a harionago: a yokai, or supernatural creature, that can control her hair.” Yui informs me in response to my stunned gaze at the detective.

“Yes, ma’am.”
I reply and take the gloves, being careful of the barbs on the ends of each strand of her hair.

I bend down and examine the body. Within about thirty seconds, I notice something
unusual: with the exception of the money shot, the other nine wounds are all grazing shots. None of the shots, besides the one to his skull, would have really slowed him down; this means that he was either gunned down in a lucky spray of bullets, or something slowed him down. I turn the victim’s head to the side and see that the headshot has penetrated through his skull and has sunken into the pavement. That eliminates the ‘lucky spray of bullets’ theory, meaning…

“Hey Yui, are
kitsune resistant to poison?” I inquire.

“Not p
articularly. Why?” Yui replies.

I respond by sticking a gloved pinkie into one of the bullet entry wounds
in the victim’s leg while the detective yells at me.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing!?” the detective angrily asks with the ends of her hair sticking up and pointing towards me.

“Yui, please tell the detective that this is necessary and that there are still nine holes that I haven’t fucked with so she can test those.” I request.

Yui relays my message while
I stick my pinkie in as far as physically possible. Once it hits something, I wiggle it around before removing it, opening the lower portion of my helmet, and sticking my bloodied finger in my mouth.

“Cole, what are you doing?” Yui asks.

“Testing the blood for poison.” I reply.

(Your hy
pothesis seems accurate, Master. The compound present is the same compound that poisoned you: chlorotoxin and Datura seed extract)

“Have any casings been found?” I ask and Yui translates.

“No, there haven’t been any.” The detective snidely replies.

“I’m going to go take a look around.” I announce.

With that, I walk away from the crime scene. I start taking a look around for anything out of the ordinary while searching for casings, which is damn near impossible with this fog.

“Hey, now that we’re alone, I need to talk to you.” Cheza thinks
while catching up to me.

“About what?”
I ask.

“About Natasha.
What happened to you two on the mission? She’s been acting strangely since she woke up.” Cheza replies.

“Nothing that stands out; I took out a Predator drone, injuring myself in the process, and Natasha fought off around fifteen Templars.” I
recant.

“Nothing else?”
Cheza asks.

“Nothing.
Oh, I guess I called her Tasha for the first time and she asked me to keep calling her that, but that’s it.” I reply.

“What!?”
Cheza exclaims, feeling alarmed for some reason.

“What?” I ask.

“Why did you suddenly start calling her Tasha!?” Cheza questions.

“Because I was being shot at by a sniper and Natasha is an extra syllable’s worth of time that the sniper would have to shoot me again.” I
explain.

“Oh…
I thought you might’ve been in love with her…” Cheza quietly replies.

“What? Natasha and I are just friends
, Cheza! What gave you the impression that I saw her as anything else?” I inquire.

“Well
, you did go on a killing spree when you thought she was dying…” Cheza softly thinks, insecurity flowing out of her in droves.

“Cheza, come on; you know me better than that! I’d go on a killing spree for like
, no reason! Hurt my friend? Killing spree. Interrupt my dinner with gunfire? Killing spree. Need to burn calories after a cup of gelato? Killing spree. Can’t put Ikea furniture together? Killing spree.” I list.

“Alright, I get it.” Cheza
interrupts, cutting my listing short.

“
Besides, did you forget what happened when I thought you were dead three weeks ago? I tried to put a bullet in my brain less than a minute after I killed the Ifrit King.” I expound.

“Yeah…
Cole, have you ever wondered why Natasha still wears your engagement ring on that chain around her neck?” Cheza asks.

“Well she was obviously mourning the death of the only fiancé she’s had that she didn’t despise.” I reply.

“No, Cole… Natasha is in lo—”

“SILENCE!”
I loudly interrupt.

“Do not finish that sentence
… just don’t.” I quietly tell her.

“Why?” Cheza asks.

“Because… if you say it, I’ll have to acknowledge it… and if I acknowledge it, I’ll have to do something about it… and if I do something about it, I’ll irrevocably change or end my friendship with her and I only have six of those to begin with… friends, that is.” I explain.

“This isn’t something you can just sweep under the rug and hope it goes away.” Cheza gently tells me.

“I know… I just… I need some time alone. Head back to the crime scene, please.” I quietly request and walk in the opposite direction; Cheza respects my wishes and makes her way towards the crime scene.

(Cheza is not mistaken, Master)

“I know, Airi… I’ve known since that night in Natasha’s penthouse.”

I walk into a break in the fog
as I notice the setting sun, and see something interesting: a young girl with silver hair, silver ears sticking out of her head, and a bushy silver tail. No, Cole; Addie can’t be here… can she? The girl walks around a corner and I follow after her. Rearing the corner, I see her stopped about fifteen feet ahead; I approach slowly and get within five feet, but the illusion still hasn’t disappeared.