Retribution Read online

  Kishi would need to know this information before she made a move on the shipping company. Though he was her sofu and had raised her, even she could not openly defy the old man and come away unscathed.

  Kimura watched in silence as the crew cast the lines off and the ship pulled away from the dock. His calm exterior hid thoughts that were anything but calm. These people had already proven themselves able and dangerous to his family. He hoped Kishi would think twice before taking action that could lead to her being disciplined and him being killed for disobeying the order of the Oyabun. But no matter what she decided, he would serve her before all others, even if it cost him his life.

  Chapter Thirteen

  TQB Base, Tokyo, Japan

  Kenjii dodged, barely avoiding the backstroke of the katana that whistled through the air a hairsbreadth from his leg. He had brought one of his hudiedao around to block, but once again came up short and had to dodge Akio’s blade.

  “Hold,” the older vampire called as Kenjii prepared to launch a counterstrike.

  Kenjii stopped, his breath coming in fast pants, although Akio, as usual, looked as fresh as he had before they started sparring.

  Kenjii gasped as he bent with his hands on his knees. “I don’t get it. Do you never tire?”

  Akio quirked one eyebrow up, and one side of his mouth twitched in what Kenjii had come to recognize as a smile. “Of course I do. When I’m pushed hard enough.”

  “You are not normal. Whatever that Queen of yours did to you has made you into an oni.”

  “Not an oni, just a better version of me. You can’t get discouraged. I have been doing this for hundreds of years.”

  “Just the same, I would like to at least get a hit on you occasionally. Between your speed and that demon-damned sword, I can’t get close.”

  “That was why I stopped. The hudiedao is an excellent weapon for close-in fighting, but I think you need to consider something longer.”

  “You’ve already seen that I’m even worse with the katana. At least with these, I am not in danger of slicing my leg off.”

  “True.” Akio smirked. “I don’t think you would be nearly as attractive with half a leg.”

  Kenjii grinned and placed both hands on his hips, careful not to put the blades he gripped in each against his body. Though they were dull practice swords that Eve had crafted for him, Akio had corrected him several times about being careless with them. The last time, he had flashed across the room and kicked the blade that rested on his thigh with enough force to fracture his femur. He was a staunch believer that pain was the best teacher, and Kenjii didn’t want to go another round with him while he was healing a bone. Akio’s warning to always train as if it were real echoed through his brain whenever they sparred now.

  Kenjii struck a pose, with one leg bent at the knee behind him. “You mean you wouldn’t want me if I looked like this?”

  “I didn’t say that. I just prefer you with all of your appendages in their proper places,” Akio deadpanned.

  Kenjii pursed his lips and blew him a kiss. “So, what did you have in mind?”

  Before he could respond, Abel’s voice came over the speakers hidden in the ceiling. “Akio. I have located an area of interest on the satellite feed. I believe it is a location controlled by the tigers you seek in China.”

  “I’ll be there in a moment.”

  “We will have to address different weapons later. I need to attend to this.”

  Kenjii nodded as Akio racked his practice katana and turned to leave. Before he exited the training room, a look of determination crossed Kenjii’s face. “Akio?”

  He turned to face Kenjii. “Hai?”

  “If you locate the ones who pursued me, I would like to accompany you when you deliver…Justice, as you call it.”

  Akio pursed his lips as he considered the request. Coming to a decision, he nodded once. “Hai. Come with me, and let’s see what Abel has for us.”

  Command Center, TQB Base, Tokyo, Japan

  The monitor they watched zoomed in on a lone man standing on a rise above a field occupied by over one hundred people working. “If you will look here, he carries no weapons, but the people do not resist him.”

  As they watched, the man strode down the rise, moving faster until his features blurred. He stopped beside an elderly woman who had collapsed in the field. None of the others had looked at her, stepping over her prone form as the only acknowledgment she was there.

  “Did you speed that up?” Kenjii asked.

  “No, this footage is running at actual speed,” Abel answered.

  The man leaned down and said something to the prone woman. His next action removed any doubt that he was from the UnknownWorld. He reached down and pulled her up with one hand, his arm stretched in front of his body while her feet dangled half a meter off the ground. He pulled his free hand back, and it blurred as it flashed toward the woman. In the next instant, there was a spray of blood, and the woman’s detached head flew two rows over from where he held her.

  He dropped the body and eyed the nearby workers. None of them raised their eyes from the task they were performing to look at the man or their fellow worker's body.

  The playback stopped and then restarted at the point seconds before he killed the woman. The frame froze and zoomed in tight on the man’s hand, or rather, the orange paw with white-tipped toes and claws on it.

  Kenjii nodded, not bothered by the death of the woman but wanting to attack the tigers for what they had done to him.

  Akio picked up on his thoughts and his lack of empathy for the plight of the humans. “Are you willing to fight the tigers to free the humans they’re holding?”

  “I will fight the tigers for existing. If it helps the humans you wish to free, I suppose that is a bonus,” Kenjii answered, his eyes never leaving the screen.

  “Understand that if I take you, I must have your assurance that you will harm none of the humans. You can never take from the innocent.”

  Kenjii turned to him. “I promise I will harm none of the humans; you have my word. I only want to eliminate the Sacred Clan from the face of the Earth.”

  Akio nodded. “Prepare a Pod, Abel. We leave,” he glanced at the clock on the wall, “ten minutes after the sun has set in…where is this?”

  “Near Quzhou, about three hundred fifty kilometers southwest of Shanghai.”

  Pod over Quzhou, China

  “When did Eve get the measurements for this armor?” Kenjii asked as he looked down at the jet-black chest piece that fit him like a second skin.

  “She didn’t. I did,” Abel replied, sounding smug.

  “Domo, Abel. It fits perfectly.”

  “You are welcome. Eve and I felt it best to prepare in the event you accompanied Akio on any missions. We spent a great deal of time locating you and wouldn’t want to lose you to something we could prevent.”

  “You are over Quzhou now, Akio. Would you prefer a direct drop, or do you wish to land and approach on foot?”

  “Set us down two kilometers west of the location. We’ll make our way in and determine how many Clan members are present.”

  “My surveillance has confirmed four hostiles. I have uploaded a map with the location where they house the humans at night and the home the hostiles went into after they had secured the humans.

  “I have uploaded the information to the screen located in the right arm of your armor.”

  Kenjii looked down at his right arm and then at Akio when he didn’t understand how to access the screen. Akio held his arm up and tapped twice on the spot where the gauntlet joined the arm, and a small screen slid out of a previously invisible slot. Kenjii did the same. When he was done, he looked at Akio, who tapped the same spot once, causing the screen to retract.

  “Absolutely amazing,” Kenjii whispered as he did the same.

  The Pod door slid open, and both exited into the darkness.

  “Abel, put the Pod three kilometers above the camp. Hold it there until we’re done.�
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  “Will do, Akio. Happy hunting.”

  Sacred Clan Farm Camp, Quzhou, China

  “Are the animals all in for the night?” Tang Lim called when Xian walked through the door after making his rounds.

  “Yeah, they’re all down for the night. You would think they had worked or something.” He guffawed.

  “If Gu keeps killing them out of hand, we will need more soon,” Geng called from the kitchen.

  “No work, no live,” Gu muttered from his spot on the old leather sofa. “If we need more, it’s not like they’re scarce or anything.”

  As Geng turned to reply, the door flew into the room with a loud crash. He dropped the iron skillet he was holding, and before it hit the floor, an orange and black tiger stood in the kitchen. Gu changed a second later, and a larger tiger with more white than black snarled from the shredded couch.

  Kenjii stepped through the door, the visor open on his helmet and his eyes flashing red. “Here, kitty, kitty,” he taunted as Geng snarled and dropped his haunches, preparing to leap.

  Akio winced when he heard the crash, followed by Kenjii’s taunt. He had instructed Kenjii to wait and watch the house until he was certain there were no other Weres present. He pushed his senses out, and once he was certain the four in the house were the only ones present, he ran the hundred yards to the house in a flash.

  He stopped in the open doorway and surveyed the scene. A tiger was in mid-air, flying toward Kenjii, and another was moving in from across the room. Two others were in human form, one of them with a nasty-looking set of taloned paws instead of hands at the ends of his arms. The other was watching the scene play out with an amused smirk on his face.

  Kenjii brought one of his swords toward the airborne tiger just before he landed on him. The blade pierced the large cat above his sternum and just below his throat. The vampire twisted in a blur, and when he stopped, he was across the room as the tiger crashed down in the open doorway. His body was limp and boneless, and blood gushed out of the ragged wound that halfway circled his neck.

  The other tiger switched direction, his claws digging deep furrows in the wooden floor as he charged toward Kenjii. The smirking man looked at the dying tiger on the floor, and his face clouded with anger. The sound of ripping cloth signaled his change. When the shift finished, an eight-foot-tall Pricolici tiger stood in his place.

  “Yooouuu will dieee, little leeeech,” he growled as he started across the room.

  Akio stepped through the doorway, his katana in his right hand and a Jean Dukes Special in his left. He raised the pistol and fired one round at the Pricolici. His eyes widened in shock as the enormous beast jerked to the side, the round intended for his chest barely grazing his arm.

  The Pricolici continued the spin, and before Akio could get another shot into him, the monster was on him. The impact knocked him off his feet when the floor collapsed under the combined weight of the four-hundred-kilo tiger and him.

  The huge claws tried to penetrate his armor, and he felt the pressure of each as it strained it to the breaking point. Akio’s eyes went red and his fangs extended as he brought his gauntleted hands up, hammering the tiger on his exposed sides.

  Though he felt ribs break each time he struck him, the huge cat continued to try to peel his armor open with his claws. Akio reached down to his belt with one hand and grasped the tanto secured there while pounding the tiger mercilessly with the other. He twisted his hand and slammed the tanto hilt-deep into the beast’s side, twisting it for good measure.

  The Pricolici snarled and pushed with both huge paws, shoving Akio deeper into the broken floor. Akio yanked the tanto from his side and drove it into the soft flesh of his belly. He ripped the razor-sharp blade up, cutting through muscle and flesh until it stopped with a thud as it hit the monster’s breastbone,

  The cat coughed once as his entrails spilled over Akio, giving an ear-shattering roar. Akio pulled the blade free, shoved his gauntlet through the torn flesh deep into the beast’s chest, and wrapped his fingers around the pulsating heart. With a hard twist followed by a downward jerk, he yanked the heart free of the tiger's chest cavity, holding it in front of the golden eyes until the light faded from them.

  Akio dropped the bloody chunk of meat and shoved hard with both hands. The heavy weight pinning him shifted, allowing him to lash out with his legs. He kicked until he freed himself from the broken boards. Once free, he pushed clear and rose unsteadily to his feet. His body jerked when he heard an agonized cry.

  Kenjii knew he was screwed when he heard a monstrous roar from across the room that made his entire body vibrate. He took his eyes off the tiger that was rushing toward him, and the last thing he saw before it knocked him to the floor was a thing of legend: a monster tiger standing erect on two legs, whose head brushed the ceiling of the house.

  Kenjii’s eyes widened as the giant cat growled at him. The split-second distraction was all it took for the attacking tiger to crash into him in a flurry of claws and teeth. Kenjii went down under the assault, while two hundred kilos of pissed-off tiger tried to tear through his armor. He fought for his life as the tiger brought its rear legs up, raking him from his stomach to his knees repeatedly. The beast snarled and brought its head down, jaws gaping toward his face. Kenjii shoved an armored arm between the jaws an instant before the teeth closed on his vulnerable face.

  Hot, rancid breath assailed his nostrils as the tiger pressed the attack, crushing his arm between the powerful jaws. He sent a silent thank you to Eve when the armor held under the brutal attack.

  Kenjii brought his knee up and under the cat as he rolled his body to escape the deadly claws that were cutting deep furrows into his armor. A sharp pain told him the armor had failed in at least one place, possibly more. He heard a creak as the teeth pressed harder into the arm, stressing the armor to the breaking point.

  Kenjii shoved as hard as he could from his prone position and shifted the cat to one side. This slight shift allowed him to bring the butterfly sword still gripped in his free hand up and slam it deep into the enraged tiger's side.

  The jaws loosened when the cat roared in pain, and Kenjii pulled his battered and bruised arm free. He slammed his gauntlet covered fist into the side of the cat’s head, shattering teeth and breaking bones when he did. The beast went limp, and when Kenjii rolled free, a great weight crushed his chest, pinning him to the floor.

  He twisted his head to the side as a claw-tipped paw descended toward his eyes. Fire seared his face as the claws laid his cheek open to the bone in three burning gashes. He let out an anguished scream of pain as blood flooded into his eyes, blinding him.

  The cat snarled, and Kenjii knew he would die. Then the weight vanished, and he could move again. Unable to see, he scooted back until he hit the wall and pushed up to a seated position. He wiped his eyes furiously to clear them, and when he could see, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

  Akio stood in the center of the room, his eyes burning red as he snarled through the fangs that extended from his mouth. He held a tiger by the scruff as he repeatedly slammed it between the wall and the floor. Each time the tiger impacted either, the house shook, and the sickening sound of bones breaking followed.

  Kenjii watched in amazement as the man he loved reduced the beast to a limp bag of broken, bloody flesh with his bare hands. Akio continued to slam the lifeless body against the floor until the skin ripped, then the weight of the body pulled it from his hands to crash into the wall one last time before it slid to the floor.

  Akio stood, his eyes still glowing like twin fires and his chest heaving as he drew in one ragged breath after another. Kenjii weakly pushed himself up the wall until he was standing, unsure of whether to approach him, experiencing bone-deep fear of the monster that stood before him.

  Kenjii’s agonized scream caused Akio to stumble and a cold chill shot through his heart. His eyes darted around the small room, frantically searching for the source of the sound. He looked to the side and saw a dead tiger on
the floor. Another snarled as it attacked something pinned under it. Akio’s vision went red with rage when he saw a scarred, battered, armored arm protruding from under the enraged tiger.

  He crossed the room in a single step and hooked his gauntlet-covered hand into the loose skin of the tiger’s neck. With a feral growl, he wrenched the beast into the air with one arm and spun in a half-turn to pull it clear of the bloody form trapped beneath it. He was in a murderous rage when the tiger's body hit the wall, knocking plaster off the ceiling from the force of the blow. He pulled hard in the opposite direction and slammed the beast onto the floor, shaking the entire house as he did so.

  His mind went numb. The only thing he could remember was Kenjii, his face covered in blood from the tiger’s attack. He didn’t realize until the weight on his arm was gone that he didn’t know if the man who meant more to him than anyone in the world was alive or dead.

  He stood with his legs wide, chest heaving as he forced air in and out of his numb body. A soft scuff to his left brought his head around with a snap, and his arms came up, ready to rip the life out of whatever the threat was.

  When his vision cleared, he saw Kenjii, one hand outstretched toward him, with a look of absolute terror etched on his face. Akio took one more deep breath and forced his eyes to fade back to their normal soft brown. His fangs retracted before he took a tentative step in his lover’s direction, his arm mirroring Kenjii’s.

  “Are you okay?” Akio asked softly as he took another cautious step toward Kenjii, halting often like he was approaching a skittish colt.

  Kenjii shook himself at the sound of the older vampire’s voice, calm and normal as he had heard it countless times before. It was his friend, his love, not the raging beast that had stood there before.