Cole's Haunting Melody (The Gods' Executioner Series) (4 page)

Chapter 5
: Presents and Story Time

“Someone needs to go get the girl.” I hear a male voice say.

“I’ll do it!” the female voice that I heard before I lost consciousness exclaims.

“No offense intended, dearest sister, but I think it would be better if I went.”
Nagi?

“
Oh? And why is that? Looking solely at our track records, I am clearly better suited to the task.” The other female voice says smugly.

“Because
Chezarei knows me and there is a degree of trust so she will be willing to come with me.” Nagi explains.

“Nagi has a point
, Kanta. Go and fetch Chezarei for me, will you?” the male voice requests.

“Yes, Lord Murugan.” Nagi replies
with an air of satisfaction in her voice. I try to sit up to stop her, but I find that I am unable.

(You are not actually awake, Master. I am merely showing you the happenings around you to keep any dreams of Adelaide at bay; we don’t need you accidentally channeling the Void in your current state
)

I guess stop
ping her isn’t necessary anyway… I doubt Cheza will even come…

“Is all of this really necessary
?” the woman that my brother called Kanta asks.

“
Considering that he just wiped an entire pantheon out of existence and that Chezarei is the only one who can stop him using peaceful means? Yes, I do see it as necessary.” Murugan replies.

What does he mean
, I ‘wiped an entire pantheon out of existence’? Were Perun and Veles the only gods in the entire Slavic pantheon? That can’t be right…

“Yes, I suppose that is true
.” Kanta says. I hear doors being thrown open and the clicks of heels against tile flooring.

“How is he?”
Mom?

“He’ll be fine
, mother; I had Nagi go retrieve Chezarei as a precaution.” Murugan says.

“Good;
I suspected something like this might happen, but I always planned on Chezarei being there to stop him before things got this bad.” Parvati says while the clicks approach me.

“Y
ou are definitely our son.” Parvati whispers while brushing my hair out of my face. I feel her lips lightly touch my forehead before I hear clicks on the tile leading away from me.

“L
ook after your brother.” Parvati says.

“Aren’t you going to stay until he wakes up?”
Kanta asks.

“No…
he probably doesn’t want to see me…” Parvati solemnly replies, heels clicking against the tile as she walks away and making me feel like utter shit.

I’m left with that shitty feeling
and thoughts that Cheza wants nothing to do with me for another fifteen minutes, at which time I hear the doors being thrown open again.

“COLE!” Cheza screams as she rushes into the room
.

“What did you do to him!?
” Cheza demands, her voice directed away from me.

“Nagi, didn’t you explain the situation?” Murugan asks.

“I did not, Lord Murugan. I simply told her that Cole was injured and that she needed to come with me.” Nagi replies.

“Could you please tell her the situation?” Murugan asks.

“Chezarei, it seems that Cole killed Veles and Perun, the heads of the Slavic pantheon, resulting in the destruction of the entire pantheon. Lord Murugan, Cole’s brother, sent his nagas priestess, Kanta, to retrieve Cole immediately after. Once she located him at the cabin in Russia, she proceeded to rape him until he vomited blood.” Nagi casually says.

“I DID NO SUCH THING! He was already like that when I found him!”
Kanta proclaims.

“
Riiiiiiiiight. Anyway, she
found
him like that and brought him back here.” Nagi finishes; her tone makes me think that she might’ve used air quotes while saying that.

“Why was he fighting the Slavic gods
?” Cheza asks.

“
We’ll have to ask him when he wakes up.” Murugan replies.

“How long has he been unconscious?” Cheza
inquires.

“About an hour.”
Kanta replies.

I hear
someone walk over to the bed and sit down on it; the scent of frozen oranges hits my nostrils and I know that it’s Cheza. After a few seconds, she climbs further into the bed and lays into my right side.

“Can you guys leave and turn off the lights? I’m tired and Cole won’t be waking up anytime soon.”
Cheza requests.

“Uh, sure.
Tell my little bro that Ganesha and I have a present for him when he wakes up. Come girls.” Murugan says.

“Yes
, Lord Murugan.” Nagi and Kanta reply, almost in unison.

I hear them walk towards the door and exit the room as my brother snaps his fingers, presumably to turn off the lights.

(Cheza on line 1)

“Ah, Airi.
Did you get our little…
situation
, taken care of?”

(Yes
, Mr. Treyfair)

“Really?
Or do I need to come in there with a wire hanger during lunch?”

(That will not be necessary)

“Once I find a wire hanger that is; all I have are the plastic ones… is that why they made plastic hangars in the first place!? Did using wire hangers for that reason become such a problem that they had to come up with a new device for hanging shirts!?”

(It was most likely for a more economically viable reason than thwarting at-home abortion services)

“Yeah, probably. Anyway, please connect me to Cheza.”

“Cole? Can you hear me?” Cheza thinks.

“Yeah.” I reply simply, unsure of what to say.

“Are you okay? I’ve never felt you like this before.” Cheza asks.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine; Airi just has me in a kind of stasis to prevent any dreams while I heal.” I tell her.

“I’m sorry…
if I had known something like this might happen, I never would have asked Airi to block the link.” Cheza quietly replies.

“That’s alright…
to be honest, I wasn’t sure that you would come. The reason I ended up fighting Perun and Veles is because Veles promised me something that I thought would help repair our relationship, but it turned out to be a false promise.” I respond, followed by several moments of silence.

“I still want us to be together, Cole.” Cheza thinks.

“Why? After everything that I’ve put you through… Don’t you get it? I’ve ruined your life!” I exclaim.

“
I don’t blame you for any of that, Cole. We can’t change what’s already been done, and I’m happy with my current life.” Cheza responds.

“But—” I start to think.

“With some help from Natasha, I realized that even if the gods manipulated me into loving you, the love feels real to me, I’m happy when I’m with you, and that’s all I really need.” Cheza tells me.

“That’s funny; I came to a similar conclusion when I was convinced that Airi had mind-fucked me into falling in love with you in Hawaii.”
I reply.

“
Heh, that’s interesting.” Cheza thinks while yawning.

“Tired?” I ask.

“Mm-hmm… it’s harder to sleep when you’re not next to me.” Cheza replies. I feel Cheza’s breathing get slower and steadier as she drifts off to sleep.

I lie there for the next several hour
s in my stasis-like state, just listening to Cheza sleeping next to me; I can’t help but think that I don’t deserve her…

(Repairs complete. In the future, I suggest saving short range porting for emergencies only
and to not port again so soon after)

“Thanks Airi. Can you wake me up now?”

I feel myself slowly take control of my body, as though I were waking up normally, except that my cognitive functions don’t feel groggy. I lean over and plant a kiss on Cheza’s forehead; her eyes slowly flutter open a few seconds later.

“Let’s go home.” I think to her.

“Okay… wait, your brother said he had a present for you.” Cheza replies.

“I was thinking about just ignoring that…” I tell her.

“Cole, you shouldn’t alienate the only family you have that hasn’t screwed either of us over in any way.” Cheza lightly scolds.

“I suppose you’re right.” I reply.

I stand up and look around at the golden and glass décor of the room. I locate my suit, Obliterator, and boots near the dresser, but I can’t seem to find my holster; I assume that Murugan took it so I wouldn’t leave without seeing him. Cheza puts on her black and white Converses and we walk out the door. Instead of seeing a gold and glass hallway, I see vibrant colored tropical foliage around me, and a tall waterfall to my right.

“Brother, come; let’s take a walk.”
A tall Indian man with wavy black hair and a red dot in the center of his forehead says after appearing next to me. Murugan is wearing white parachute-esque pants that remind me of
Aladdin
, several gold bracelets around his wrists and ankles, and nothing else.

Cheza and I follow him towards the waterfall, where he sits down on a large silk pillow in front of a low table; I sit on the pillow across from him and Cheza sits down on the one to the right of me.
Ganesha suddenly appears on the empty pillow to the left of me.

“So brother, why don’t you tell us what caused you to destroy an entire pantheon.”
Ganesha suggests.

“Well
, Veles promised me something important in exchange for helping him get his wife back from his brother, but this was actually a ploy to get me to kill Perun and he didn’t have the power to give me what he promised. I was already angry about a dream that I had involving Addie so when I found out that I’d been deceived, I kind of snapped. In reality, they just caught me at a bad time, but I didn’t destroy the entire pantheon; all I did was kill Veles and Perun.” I reply.

“Yes, but you kille
d the two heads of the pantheon—the only two heads—and with no successor of power in place, the pantheon and all involved collapsed in on itself. The Nav district of the Underworld is gone, along with all of its inhabitants. Even the Pirin Mountains in Bulgaria, named for Perun, have disappeared, causing rampant flooding and a nine hundred meter drop in elevation for a town and all its residents. Some of the humans are freaking out, but thanks to false evidence planted by certain agencies, scientists are accrediting it to a massive shift in tectonic plates; completely asinine, I know, but it has quelled the masses.” Ganesha informs me.

“Wow…
I really fucked up this time.” I quietly respond.

“Yeah, you did. Anyway, that’s not the actual reason we called you here.” Murugan says.

“It’s not?” I ask.

“We actually
called you here to give you our ‘welcome to the family’ present.” Ganesha says and claps his hands. Nothing happens so he claps his hands again.

“I’m going first!” I hear
Nagi whisper from the tropical foliage.

“No, I am! If you go first, it will
give away mine!” Kanta whispers back.

“So what!?”
Nagi replies.

“*Sigh* they are such children sometimes.”
Ganesha says.

“I know, right? Girls! Both come out at the same time!” Murugan yells.

I hear the foliage yelp in response and then two Nagis emerge. I didn’t realize that Kanta was Nagi’s twin; they are both 5’9” with practically identical facial features and the same brown eyes. The only difference I can see is that Kanta’s hair is shorter and she has an almost unnoticeable beauty mark beneath her left eye. Both of the sisters are carrying boxes as they walk over with slightly flushed cheeks. They each set their package down in front of me and stare at me intently; I freeze up, not wanting to offend either of them by choosing the other’s package first.

Cheza looks at my inde
cision, sighs, and tells the girls to “Pick a number between one and ten.” I give Cheza a look of admiration and thanks.

“Seven!”
Kanta shouts as Nagi shouts “Five!”

“
I chose six…” Cheza says and then just looks at me. The girls start staring intently at me again when a solution comes to me.

“Are either presents flammable?” I ask.

“No.” my brothers each reply.

I drip my blood
from my left palm onto each box and transmute the blood into Acetylene with a snap of my fingers. The wrapping paper and cardboard burn away, leaving only their contents and ash behind.

“This has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen you use your powers for.” Cheza thinks.

“I don’t want to hear a word from the person who doesn’t know that you should always tell people to pick a number between one and a hundred… thanks for trying though.” I reply as I blow the ash away.