City of Demons, page 13
part #2 of The Unseen Series
In the back few rows, where the sun never seemed to reach, the market went a bit gray. Used television sets and car radios of dubious origin were for sale alongside engagement rings and knock-off designer handbags. In the final row, nestled against a brick wall belonging to a shoe factory long out of business, items related to magic both white and black could be found; needles, candles, amulets, special waters, oils, lotions, herbs, black salt, and other powders of intent. It was there, after asking directions from a few vendors, that Karen, Danny and Miku found their man.
With a braided beard reaching to his chest, and almond skin marked with layers of tattoos, Sampson Singh glanced up at Karen with one brown and one clear-blue eye. "What can I do for you today, Rakni?" he asked.
Karen was taken aback. "How did you-?"
"Call it a gift." He pointed to his blue eye. "One I didn't ask for."
Karen and Danny approached the man’s potent-smelling table. Miku chose to keep her distance. "Are you human?"
He nodded. "I am. The eye, less so. So tell me, who sent you to me?"
"Hana Kimura. Do you know her?"
"My uncle knew her very well. She and I only spoke a handful of times." He looked closer at her. "You must be the granddaughter she was always talking about. I half-expected you to have diamond-crusted skin and gold lace for hair."
"Yes, well she tends to exaggerate."
He raised a dark eyebrow. "Clearly. So, what does Hana Kimura's precious granddaughter want from Sampson Singh?"
Karen glanced at the closest vendor, making sure their conversation wouldn’t be overheard. A woman in a moth-eaten coat sat on an old crate behind her table. Her head hung down, the hood pulled up over her ears, a low gurgle drifted from her lips. From the sound of her she was either asleep or dying. "I need to know where I can find Sectu," Karen said.
Sampson Singh smiled, exposing three gold teeth in random formation. "Hana told you I knew where he was, did she? It's true, I can tell you where to find him, but the information is useless without a key."
"A key to what?"
"His temple, of course."
"Alright, so where do I find one?"
Sampson Singh drummed his painted fingernails. "The first thing to understand is that it is not a key. It is more of an offering."
Karen shifted her weight, already tired of the man's games. "Where do we find an offering?"
"Far from here."
"Well, you've been a big help," Danny said as he picked up a bottle of cloud-colored powder.
"That bottle is worth more than your life," Sampson pointed out.
"So twenty bucks?"
The man frowned before turning back to Karen. "The easiest object to compare the key to would be an egg, but even that doesn't come close to the truth. The only place I know where you can find one is at the end of a cave, in the middle of a desert. If you can find it before you succumb from the heat, you'll likely be stung to death by scorpions."
"Bullshit," Danny said. Sampson sneered at him, half-amused.
"You do not believe me?"
"They might. I don't."
"Explain," Karen said.
Danny put down the bottle of swirling liquid. "I know a hustler when I see one. He's trying to make these eggs sound like the rarest thing on the planet, that way he can charge you whatever he wants when he pulls one out of his pocket."
"Is that true?" Karen asked.
Sampson hesitated. "It so happens I have one left."
"What a coincidence," Danny chuckled.
Sampson Singh paused, then took a box from beneath the table and opened it. He unwrapped the green, hand-sewn cloth inside to reveal what looked like a large marble filled with viscous, black liquid. "What I said about the difficulty in obtaining this was no lie. I will not part with it cheaply."
Karen nodded. "The truth is, you could name any price you wanted and I wouldn't be able to pay it. I have no cash at the moment, and credit isn't an option."
"In my business, it never is." He closed the box and placed it carefully in front of Karen. "An I-owe-you then. A favor on hold."
"I don't like owing people."
"That is unfortunate. You need what I have, and I do not believe in charity."
"I could take it from you."
"I suspect you could. But your warrior's code stops you from committing a deed so blatantly wrong."
Karen squinted. "You don't know me, or what I'm capable of."
"Your grandmother spoke highly of you. She also spoke often of you. I know all about you, Karen Kimura, and information is still the most precious commodity of this world."
Danny stepped forward. "Luckily she has me. And I'm a horrible person."
Sampson smiled dismissively at Danny. Then his eyes move further back, to where Miku stood. A look of recognition crossed his face, mixed with fear.
Karen picked up on the shift in the man. "You know her?"
He shook his head stiffly. "Not the girl. What lives inside." Karen caught a brief reflection in his blue eye. A flash of a skull. Not human, elongated, an animal of some kind, with a long snout and interlocking fangs at the end. Grinning. Grinning and surrounded by fire. A moment later the glimpse was gone. "Why is she here?" Sampson asked.
"She's with me."
"She is with no one but death." Sampson opened the box and shoved the bundle into Danny's hands. "Take it. Take it and get out of here. You can pay me later."
Karen told Danny to take Miku back to the entrance and wait for her. As the two walked off, looking back over their shoulders, Sampson wrote down an address on a slip of old newspaper and handed it over.
"A word of advice," he said. "Get rid of the girl. Whatever your mission is, it can only be doomed by her presence."
"The girl is the mission," Karen replied, offended.
"Then Rakni, I am afraid you are the one who is doomed."
"You almost sound concerned for my safety."
"Of course I am concerned." He regained himself. "If you are dead, who will pay me?"
***
Danny and Miku stood at the entrance, waiting by a barrel of toothy fish for Karen to rejoin them. Miku wrinkled her nose as she stared into one fish's dead, cloudy eye.
"So what's your deal anyway?" Danny asked her.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb. You weigh like ten pounds yet all these grown-ups treat you like the reincarnation of Charles Manson."
She looked up from the fish. "I don't understand your question."
"It's simple, kid: are you a good witch or a bad witch?"
Miku thought about it. "I don't know yet."
"Well when you figure it out, let me know. This teamwork stuff is cool and all, but in the end I have to look out for myself."
"Miss Kimura looks out for you."
"Yeah. I noticed that." Danny looked back into the crowd, hoping to spot Karen.
"Why does she?" Miku asked.
"I have no idea. Maybe it’s that code of hers that doesn't let her turn away a stray." He turned back to the girl. "And I don't like your tone, by the way."
"What tone?"
"You know what tone I'm talking about."
"I have no tone."
"Keep it up and you really won't. I don't care what anyone says, I'll slap a little girl."
"I love it when you talk like that." From a shady side-street, a young woman in ratty clothes approached the two. She was flanked by two significantly taller figures, their faces wrapped in scarves. She removed hers to reveal an unfortunately familiar face, framed by pink hoop earrings.
"Oh, shit," Danny said.
"Look, boys, it’s the one that got away." Cassie smiled at Danny with her capped teeth. The other two figures removed their scarves. Their faces were gaunt and street-worn, their lips dry from thirst. Miku watched the three with distrust, sensing the violence in the young Chromes. The hunger in their twitchy movements.
"Run and get Karen," Danny whispered, pushing Miku toward the thick of the market. The girl listened. Without complaint she disappeared back into the crowd. Danny hoped he could stall the three Chromes long enough for reinforcements to show up.
"Listen," he said, "I got away from you once, and I'll probably do it again. That's not bragging or anything, I'm just a slippery prick, with a major case of dumb luck. Wouldn't it be easier to let this whole 'eating me' thing go and move onto someone else?" He pointed to the busy market. "There's a lot of people here, and to be honest some of them look pretty tasty."
"You know how it is," Cassie purred, "once you decide what you want to eat, everything else seems like a letdown."
"Believe me, you'll be disappointed either way. My blood is terrible. High cholesterol. No vitamin content. I have the worst diet of anyone I know."
"You don't have to tell us about your blood," the Chrome on the left said, "we can smell it from here."
"Great. Well it’s been nice catching up, but seriously, go get your chromosomes somewhere else."
Cassie turned her head sideways and smiled. "You've been talking to someone about us," she said. Danny swallowed, his throat dry.
"Lucky guess?"
"Now we have to kill you either way, just to be safe," the Chrome on the right said.
"That doesn't sound safe at all."
"You try to be funny, but your heart is fluttering like a little bird with a broken wing. You can't hide your fear from us."
Danny sighed, giving up on the idea of backup. "You know, the thing about that is-"
Without warning he turned and ran. As fast as he could he reentered the market, weaving between shoppers. The Chromes followed, laughing and barking like twisted hyenas.
Danny made his way through the crowd, bumping and dodging down the aisle, while the two behind him simply shoved people out of the way. Cassie brought up the back, eyeing the concerned onlookers with a devilish smile. She invited one of the bolder ones to get involved. He backed away, going about his business.
The faster of the two Chromes caught up. He leapt onto Danny’s back and brought him down to the ground. Danny had the wind knocked out of him, pinned between cold concrete and a hungry Chrome.
The Chrome grabbed Danny by the back of his neck. With his other hand he pulled Danny's collar back to expose more of the skin beneath. Danny panicked and kicked out, knowing what came next. His wounded shoulder burned beneath his jacket. The Chrome reached into his mouth to pull the caps off his teeth.
"Wait," Cassie ordered. "Me first."
The Chrome nodded reluctantly, knowing that Shade's mate had first rights to eat. Cassie walked to the front of Danny, who squirmed under the weight pressed down on his back. The other Chrome cursed and spit at the ever-widening crowd. No one dared interfere. Only a few watched the scene unfold, the rest turned away and pretended nothing was wrong.
"If it makes you feel any better," Cassie said, "this should have happened back in the train yard. I hope you spent the extra days you stole from me well."
"He did." A voice rose from the contracted crowd. The Chromes scanned the faces until Karen stepped forward, with Miku tucked safely behind her. The three Chromes sniffed the air, detecting something different about her, something ancient in the blood. One of them said, "Rakni," and the others growled their disapproval.
"We don't want trouble from you," Cassie warned.
"Trouble with him is trouble with me."
She motioned to Danny's shoulder. "I marked him. He's mine."
Karen glanced at Danny. "Do you have this effect on everyone, or just the sociopaths?"
With his face pressed to the ground, Danny glanced up at her. "I'd rather not answer that just this moment."
Cassie took a step forward. "What are you gonna do in front of all these people, Rakni? I think you'd better leave before you expose your kind to these nice, normal citizens."
Karen took the pouch from her pocket.
"What’s that?"
"You asked me what I'll do. This is what I'll do." The Chromes studied it, confused. She opened it to give them a better look inside. All three Chromes stared silently at the sewing kit. Then they burst out into laughter all at once.
"Are you gonna sew us sweaters until we beg for mercy?" the Chrome holding Danny's neck asked.
A moment later he screamed. One of the long knitting needles had pierced clean through his wrist and halfway out the other side. He fell off of Danny, hollering and holding his arm while thin blood sprayed. The onlookers gasped. Danny scrambled to his feet to join Karen at her side.
"What do you know?" Karen said to Miku. "Sewing really does help." Miku smiled up at her. The other two Chromes helped their fallen packmate to stand as Karen removed the second needle from its pouch and held it between her thumb and forefinger. She tied the length of red yarn around the steel ball at the needle's top and pulled it tight.
"Don't be a baby," Cassie told the bleeding Chrome, earrings bobbing with her head. He angrily pulled the needle from his wrist and dropped it at his feet. Tiny, red droplets sprayed the concrete with each bounce of metal.
Danny pulled on Karen's arm in the opposite direction. "Let's go," he urged.
"Not yet."
"Look at the crowd, they're not on our side anymore." The members of the crowd still watching mumbled to each other, some making phone calls. "Isn't there something in your code that says you don't always need to fight?"
"Yes."
"So?"
She looked Danny in the eye as she wrapped the yarn around one finger, then her hand, securing the needle in her right palm. "It also says that once you're in a fight you need it finish it, or it'll last the rest of your life."
"You messed up, Rakni," Cassie shouted. "You're one dead, little bug. I'm gonna enjoy sucking the juices out of you."
"Thank God I don't follow your code," Danny said. "It sounds exhausting." The Chromes spread out, readying for an attack with a growl in their throats.
"Make sure Miku stays out of the way," Karen told him.
"Is that all I'm good for?" Karen flashed him a burning look. "Okay, okay. I'll babysit the anti-christ. But we're having a serious talk about a raise later."
Karen turned her attention to the Chromes. She fell into fighting stance, putting her body directly between Danny and the attackers, to cut out the chance of a sudden rush at him. As much as his continuous bickering was a distraction, and his lack of skills didn't make him the most useful teammate she could ask for, he was a part of her team now.
The closest Chrome attacked. He was faster than he looked, reminding Karen that she wasn’t dealing with humans. He came surprisingly close to landing a blow, but Karen sidestepped and punched a hole in his side with the needle. He screamed; a kidney strike. If Unwanted anatomy was the same as human, she thought, he would be pissing blood for some time. She delivered a side-kick, clearing him out of the way in time to take her second attacker.
She dodged a punch from a fist connected to a bleeding wrist. She grabbed his forearm and squeezed, applying pressure with her right hand as she locked the elbow with her left arm, twisting her body to push her back against him. She brought him to the ground and pushed his face to the concrete the way he had Danny.
"Does this seem familiar?" she asked him, her mouth to his ear. "They call this move Rokkyo. It's my favorite way to break an arm." She applied pressure to the already injured arm. He grimaced, trying to keep from screaming in front of his packmates.
Cassie moved forward to attack. "I'm saving you for last," Karen said. She launched the long needle at the girl with a flick of the wrist. It stopped short of her face, so close the wind on the girl's eyeball caused her to blink.
Karen whipped the needle back with the yarn and caught it before returning her attention to the Chrome with a face full of floor. "As I was saying. Broken arms take about six weeks to heal, permitting good circulation and genetics."
She turned her hands, breaking the Chrome's arm with a sick, dull snap. He cried out, his arm twisted at an impossible angle. Karen released the arm and stood over the screaming fool. "How good would you say your genetics are?"
Cassie tried to attack again. Again she was stopped by a needle, this time mere centimeters from her eyelashes.
"Wait your turn," Karen commanded.
The second Chrome was back on his feet. He felt his side and came back with a pink hand where the needle had punctured his flesh. Angered at the sight of his own blood, he came at Karen swinging.
She deflected easily, dodging, striking, until she allowed herself to become overconfident. She let her guard down, ignoring the first Chrome still on the ground. He grabbed her leg and made a bite for her ankle. She avoided the bite, but it distracted her long enough for the second Chrome to land a punch, his fist connecting with her nose.
She took a step back and shook off the hit. The Chrome who’d punched her was smug, beaming with self-satisfaction, until he got a look at her face. Then he realized, with no small amount of surprise, that she wasn’t just unfazed- she was smiling.
Karen became an onslaught. Both Chromes stood their ground side-by-side as she fell on them in a blur of kicks and strikes. Even under the best conditions they would struggle to match her speed, but with two open wounds and three working arms between them, they had no chance. To add insult, at times she struck them using each other's bodies, deflecting hits into each other, using one's broken arm to strike the other, and always she kept Cassie at bay, alternating between fighting the two Chromes and throwing the needle at the girl.
Danny and Miku watched from the sidelines. "Jesus. She's playing with them like dolls," Danny said.
"Don't they deserve it?"
"Of course they do, but…I don't know, does she have to be so scary about it?"
"It's better to be the scary one than the scared one," Miku replied.
"Calm down there, Confucius."
Miku wrinkled her nose. "Confucius was Chinese."
