Buyer's Remorse

By the time they got back, it was still afternoon. A hazy mist was settling over the city. Cliff was pretty proud of himself. He felt like he was finally getting the hang of the spy game, in spite of the fact that they had been tailed recently. But it was that very reason that kept him alert on the bus ride back. To play it safe, he suggested to Sable that they get to the safehouse as soon as possible, but take a different route. The last thing he wanted to do was lead the yakuza right to their front door. So the two got off the bus at Kitaando and walked the rest of the way to the safehouse. Cliff took this opportunity to test his eyes, and Sable’s, and kept trying to spot any other tails. Taking stops in shops and looking through windows to browse. They also took alleyways to keep out of sight when possible.

Cliff was satisfied that they had made it back without anyone tracking them, as he failed to recognize anyone currently on the sidewalk. As the safehouse came into view, he breathed a bit easier. It would be a bit until their next assignment as intelligence was gathered on their enemy. Cliff was hungry so before he went in he offered to hit a convenience store and grab Sable something. They’d need to keep their energy up and stay alert. Sable walked in and saw Brooks sitting at their table. He explained that they were going to get some more training once Cliff got back. Sable nodded and took a seat to wait with him.

Later that night…

The air was still damp as the mist started to turn into a proper rain. The surrounding area was still. Only the rustling of the ropes and tearful muffled pleading broke the silence before a chanting began. Takahiro Kagame held the Necronomicon in one hand and a sharp dagger in the other. His appearance was much more tidied up. He had slicked back his black hair and was adorned in intricately trimmed robes. He recited the words and let the energy flow through him as the conduit before it culminated in the dagger. He then stabbed it into the gut of a poor salaryman who they had grabbed off the street. His debts had brought him here, and now he paid in blood.

The energy coursed through the dagger and into the body. It lashed out and tangled in a sickly green color. Other dead bodies were scattered around. As Takahiro chanted louder and louder, the dead bodies became imbued with the energy and rose up. Men and women, just like that salaryman, had been taken without thought to who they were or where they came from. As the energy seeped into their bodies, they twitched and groaned. Their eyes shot open, white and sickly. They rose from the ground and staggered to their feet.

Takahiro kept chanting and chanting until he reached the end of the page. When he looked up, he was starkly disappointed. The ritual was supposed to create perfect monsters. Undead beings that obeyed his command and stood straight and proud. Instead, he saw tainted husks that loped and shambled like Romero’s ghouls. He cursed them and cursed the book and cursed the world, all in the same breath.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Kagame? Is the ritual incomplete?” Reijiro asked.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?!” Takahiro threw his hands out at the ghouls, standing in various limps and leans. “They should be PERFECT! They are NOT! They are flawed! Unusable! DETESTABLE!”

“You are the only one who knows how to read that book. I cannot tell you how to do the ritual.”

“No…no, you are right. There must be something I’m missing…I need a different sacrifice. A purer one. A virgin, maybe. Or perhaps a conduit? Someone else who practices the art…yes…yes I will have both!”

“Both?” Reijiro asked, raising an eyebrow.

“YES! A conduit for the energy, pure and clean for the message! It will work…I know it!”

“Very well. We will call up our contact. You will have your conduit, Mr. Kagame.”

Shizuoka

The rest of the day had come and gone without any fanfare. Brooks had since left before it even got dark out. Ikumi sighed and drank her beer, sitting across from Cliff at the table as Sable was in her room meditating. Ikumi felt her pager buzz and looked down at the screen. She looked up at Cliff. He was still reading his book. She stared at him for a moment before she stood from the table.

“I’m going to go get something to eat,” she said as she walked to the door and threw her coat on.

“Any other updates from your police contacts?” Cliff asked without lifting his eyes from the page.

“Yeah. I’m meeting with them tomorrow.”

Cliff said nothing else as Ikumi disappeared out the door. It was deathly quiet. The world outside had gone to sleep. So when the sudden bark of a fox out in the street broke the silence, both Cliff and Sable went to the windows to look. They didn’t see the fox, but there was a car coming down the road. Cliff’s pager buzzed, so he checked the screen. It read, “GET OUT NOW.” Cliff felt his heart rate spike as he cursed and grabbed his coat. He ran up to Sable’s room and pounded on the door. She opened it in seconds, wide-eyed like a deer in headlights.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“We gotta go. Come on.”

“Okay okay!”

Cliff ran back downstairs. He stopped when he saw shadows move through the headlights and head to the front door.

“Shit. They’re already here. Sable, this way.”

Cliff grabbed her by the hand and took her up to his room.

“What’s going on, Cliff?”

“What’s going on is: you’re going to get out of here. Take this,” he said, giving her his pager.

“What about you?” Sable asked. She was clearly distraught, but their time had already run out.

“I’m going to try to stall them. Find Susan. Brooks. Someone. They’ll probably contact you to tell you where to go. Tell them I stayed behind.”

“Okay…okay, I…”

“Sable, you’re a strong girl. Okay?”

“Yeah…yeah I am.”

“Good. That’s why you’re going out the second floor window.”

“Yeah, I- wait what?!”

“Don’t scream.”

In her confusion, Cliff had already gotten her ready. He knew he was going to regret it, but he had to do it. So he unceremoniously shoved her out the window. To her credit, she didn’t scream on the way down. The soft thump and a gasp told him she was still alive, if only to have her wind knocked out of her. He heard the door get busted in downstairs. He cursed again and slammed the window shut.

“Alright man, you’re on. Let’s not fuck this up.” Cliff said to himself.

He marched himself downstairs and quickly grabbed the dead drop map. He ignited it with the Echo 8 and watched it shrivel up. Even if he hadn’t used it, it still needed to be destroyed. When he turned around, he was face to face with a group of yakuza thugs. Many of them had baseball bats or crowbars, but one had a pistol pointed right at him.

“Ahhh, Rakkasan! So nice of you to join us.”

Cliff recognized that voice. The guy from the Italian place. This was getting better by the minute. He said a soft prayer for himself.

“You come with us now, Rakkasan. You and your female friend.”

“Sorry, she isn’t here right now.”

“Not here?” The man holding the gun scowled. “You tell me where she is.”

“Sorry, she went out to grab some food. I don’t know where. She didn’t tell me.”

The pistolero shifted his weight uncertainly, as if trying to decide whether or not to believe Cliff.

“We take you then. Come.”

“And if I don’t want to?” Cliff asked.

For that smart remark, one of the men went at him with the baseball bat. Cliff grabbed it from the guy and put the knob at the end right into the guy’s throat. Then he swung it on the guy to his right that was coming at him with a crowbar. The cold steel of the gun to the back of his head made him pause. All that bravado still didn’t mean anything against a bullet. And so, he dropped the bat and put his hands up.

Sable coughed and sputtered as she rolled off her back. She gasped like a fish out of water. She’d get him back for this, most definitely. She would. But first, she had to escape. She tried to get her wind back as she crawled on her hands and knees through the small backyard. Adrenaline was dulling the pain for now, but it wouldn’t last long. Still, she had to go and warn Susan, or someone else. The embassy was so far away, but it might be her only shot.

Rain pelted the grass. Sable was still only wearing a sweater and jeans since she hadn’t planned on leaving again until tomorrow. She huddled next to the house and sat there until she caught her breath again. The sound of car doors being closed drew her attention, but she didn’t seek it out. Then there was the sound of tires screeching as the car drove off. She sighed and looked in through the windows. The house was completely empty. Cliff was gone. No doubt the yakuza took him. She sighed and felt her pager buzz. There was an address scrolling across the screen.

That was that. She had to make her move now. Susan would be waiting, hopefully. She headed back into the house and grabbed her peacoat before heading back out into the elements. She knew the buses weren’t running this late, so she had to make her way there on foot. She shivered in her wet clothes as she tried to keep herself hidden. She avoided any lights and kept herself on the move. Her singular goal was in the forefront of her mind. Winds breezed along as she tried to move without drawing attention.

The presence of a car’s headlights caused her to swiftly duck into an alley. She waited for ten minutes before checking if it was really gone. Once she was satisfied that it was, she slipped back out into the night. The whole walk took three hours. When she finally arrived at the address, she noted it was a park. Closed, but it was still a landmark. She entered the park and looked around. Nothing. Not even a peep. The air was still, as if frozen.

“Where’s Cliff?”

Sable screamed, jumped, whirled herself around, and fell onto her butt. Susan stood before her. Her eyes glowed red for a brief second, and Sable knew there was no way she had been there a minute ago. Her black leather jacket was barely even wet.

“Where’s. Cliff.” Susan said again, more forcefully.

“He…he didn’t go with me. Said he’d stay behind while I got away.”

“He what? That idiot!”

“They took him.”

“Oh fuck’s sake! C’mon. We gotta get him back.” Susan said, walking off.

Sable dusted herself off and followed up behind Susan.

“What are they going to do to him?” she asked.

“Hopefully kill him.”

“What?!” she wasn’t sure if Susan was joking or not.

“They can’t use him for a ritual. He’s too faithful. It won’t work. But they also can’t convert him to be a vampire because of his faith.”

“His faith?”

“He’s a priest. You know how we channel energy and magic through our bodies, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Cliff does it too. His faith gives him power as well, but it’s mainly for protection. At times, he may use it as a sword if he learns how, but his basic magic granted through his faith in the Son of God gives him protection from evil.”

“Then how will they kill him?”

“Unfortunately, there’s only so much you can do against mortal weapons. Your kind were always inventing new and exciting ways to kill each other, so they’ll probably kill him the old fashioned way once they figure out he can’t be of any use.”

“That’s awful!”

“And that’s why we’re going to get there before anything happens.”