Chapter Seventeen

Following humans is really easy. I can be a bird, a bug, a man or woman… I can be anything I wish to be, when I wish to be it, and with their ignorance of the wider Universe beyond their own world, and a total lack of magic in their hands… What do I have to worry about? What hope have they of keeping me out of where I wish to go, of keeping me from following who I wish to follow?

Exactly. Mind you I’m not one to abuse this ability, I don’t stalk Jin or Suki or the rest of the neighborhood, I would never abuse these gifts.

I just do what has to be done. So, I followed on, it was evening, it was dark, and I was miffed about my needing to do this instead of watching ghoul boy struggle through learning to use his new powers in yet another hero fiction that is surprisingly better than one would think.

I did have the relief of knowing that these were professionals, and so when they realized their phones were broken and their car wouldn’t stop ‘properly’ they actually didn’t drive with reckless disregard for anyone else.

Based on how the car slowed down on the road, they must have simply taken their foot off the pedal, then let the car ‘coast’ to a stop in a nearly empty parking lot.

To make a long story into a short one, when they’d borrowed a phone and called for help, I had an even easier time, because ‘that’ car would definitely belong to their specific organization. Professionals are predictable, they follow rules, even if only internal ones, and since the Yakuza were sort of ‘legal criminals’ it wouldn’t be that hard to figure out which gang was trying to extort my little town. Just find the organization who the car is registered to.

And if I had to go up one more level after this, I would.

Inside the vehicle I was following as it drove into the city, I could hear their conversation, in all its glorious consternation.

“...The tires were popped and the brakes were cut, one is one thing, but four tires and a brake line? Someone did that.” The driver. I recognized his voice.

“Nobody could have gotten around us, so then how…?” The passenger. He still believed it was an accident. I don’t blame him. And also, I couldn’t be blamed for mentally smirking. My current bird beak wouldn’t do that, but it was fine. I smirked inside my head and that was good enough.

The building they parked under was dark, and frankly a little dank, the rain from before left some moisture behind, I supposed. But more importantly, just to be cautious I landed behind a pillar, returned to myself, and cast my spell. [Y’tilibisivni] And then I sauntered out from behind the pillar and watched them exit the car.

They were still arguing with each other, the two idiots, that is, as I followed behind them and watched them get into the elevator.

A wicked impulse came over me, looking down at the glowing elevator button. I could have just disabled it, but… Instead I just pushed the button.

The doors were just about to close, and I got them to open.

They ceased arguing, looked around, saw nothing, and the taller of the two pushed the ‘close door’ button.

I remained outside and pushed the ‘up’ button again.

Again the doors began to open.

“Really?” He asked the Universe.

“Really.” I thought, and as the door closed again, I pushed the button a third time.

A fourth.

A fifth.

Until his face grimaced and he punched the panel with a shout. “Damn it!” He snarled, “Come on, we’ll take the stairs!”

“It’s a hundred twenty floors up!” His companion squeaked.

“And we’d have done twenty of them in the time it took to make that decision. Come on! The damn thing is busted.” He said as I… pushed the button again, forcing the doors to part one more time.

I, of course, had no intention of taking the stairs. I waited until they stormed into the stairwell, then stepped through the elevator, hit the button for the top floor, and leaned against the wall with my arms crossed and humming contentedly with a real smirk on my invisible face that held all the way up there and to through the very moment when the two emerged from the stairwell huffing and puffing and hunched over, with sweat dripping from their faces and staining what were admittedly very nice dark suits.

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I crinkled my nose at the smell, but went into step as they walked over the rich scarlet rug that lead to a polished black set of double doors.

I slipped in behind them and watched as they approached a middle aged man in frankly much better shape than the old guy from before. He was at least as well dressed and was sitting on his heels with his legs curled beneath him in front of a low table that was fairly common in this part of the world.

In front of him was a bottle of expensive wine that was already half empty, and a paper he was writing on by hand. ‘A little more traditional than I expected but… tastes are what they are.’

“Why are you two here? What happened, eh?” He tilted his head back and glared at the sweaty pair, his nose crinkled just as mine had when the smell of sweat hit his nostrils.

“And why are you sweating? We have an elevator!” He snapped and pinched his nose shut.

“Didn’t… work…” The larger of the pair said and they descended to their knees, then down to all fours.

They then explained what happened, the tires, the breaks… I kind of thought the boss would lose his temper a little when they explained, but to my surprise, he was very calm about it.

“We’ll have it towed tomorrow, good work avoiding an accident I guess but… how did all that happen in the first place?!” He groused, mixing praise with visible annoyance.

I sat down at the table and waited until they were done. “I’ll get some other people out there tomorrow. You two… just… get out.” He rubbed his forehead and the pair hastened away as fast as they’d entered… perhaps a little faster, now that they’d had a few minutes to rest.

I waited until we were alone, just he and I, and until he rose to his feet and had his back to the door, approaching his desk near the window.

Last time I chose another world’s warbeast. This time, I decided to go with something more… local.

I stood, shifted into the form of a towering werewolf, something bigger, larger even than their myths, and the first moment he knew I was there was when my long furry fingers and sharp claws were coming around from behind him… and he saw my reflection in the glass.

He opened his mouth to scream, my free hand came up and I pinched his tongue with clawed thumb and forefinger, denying him the ability to do so. “Gahawahh gawhaaha” Was all he managed to get out, he shook his head, but bound by his tongue, he couldn’t really even properly protest. My dark fur was so close he couldn’t not see it, even in the dim light of his office. My hot breath wafted over his face and made him try again to tear himself free.

I squeezed, I could feel his body ‘crack’ just a little. ‘Hey! I brushed my teeth, damnit! My breath doesn’t stink!’ I thought, and now I was really annoyed. Bad enough they were taking up my free time, but now they add insult to injury.

“Stay. Out. Of. Shinjai.” He growled. “Did my message not reach you? Shinjai belongs to the devil. Did I come to your house, disrupt your day, make things inconvenient for you?!” I shouted and shook him around like a ragdoll. I released his tongue so I would not tear it out, and held him up so that he was level with my bright yellow eyes.

“You-” He started to protest, I shook him around again until he shut up.

“Did I?!” I demanded in a wolfish, rough, gravely voice.

“N-No.” He grimaced as I squeezed tighter.

“You may come to Shinjai… as people. Spend money, patronize their businesses. But commit no crimes, and never come as Yakuza. In the house of the devil… you do not demand water.” I then straightened, putting the claw on my thumb just beneath his chin, grazing his vulnerable throat.

“If I must repeat this to your boss. I already know where he is, I will bring down these buildings on your heads. The devil does not deal.” I growled, and squeezed again, his legs began to kick and flail… I was bluffing of course. With what I already had, and with a little help from one of our satellites, I was pretty sure I could get everything I needed to in short order.

“Tell me you understand… human?” I growled.

His head bobbed up and down, “Yes. Yes! I understand!” He gasped and wheezed as my grip tightened.

“Good.” I dropped him to crumple in a heap, and he remained on all fours while he hacked and coughed and his body trembled in a mix of horror and disbelief.

“What… does the devil… want with Shinjai… anyway? It’s just a poor backwater…” He asked and began rubbing his throat where my claw had been not but a moment before. The little red dot on his hand where he rubbed would serve as a fine reminder, I should hope.

But even so, he was braver than I expected, to be at a werewolf’s feet and still question me? I chose to reward his courage.

“A vacation. I work hard. I want to relax. Shinjai is good for that. Do not disrupt my vacation again.” I don’t know what compelled me to say that, I mean, I meant to reward him, so it wasn’t an accident, but even so, I could have come up with a better excuse.

But I got that little chilly feeling in my spine that warned me I’d just done something that would have unexpected results.

“I… understand. I will… make sure… everyone knows… Shinjai, is the place where devils rest… no one… will disrupt it.” The way he said it felt ‘off’ to me.

But I wasn’t quite sure why.

I dismissed it, the matter was settled for now, and if it got worse, so would I.

“Good.” I gave a generic answer as if I were pleased, and then gave him a fairly gentle thump on the head, putting him to sleep.

After I was ‘myself’ again, I went to the paper on his desk and scrawled a little reminder note. ‘Remember, do not disturb the devil’s rest.’

With that, I teleported away, and flopped on my couch and began watching high school girls fleeing zombies as the world began to burn around them. I fell asleep to their screams before the first episode ended.