Cloak of Fury (Veil Knights Book 3), page 5
“How much?”
“Each bottle is expected to fetch nearly one hundred thousand dollars.”
I shook my head. “That is one expensive habit you’ve got there.”
Hsu-Chi laughed. “Indeed. But it’s so worth it. Surely you have something that you are willing to spend all sorts of money on?”
“Just my retirement,” I said. “I’ve had enough of the glitz and luxury life. Don’t get me wrong: I dig the opulence to some extent, but not nearly enough to blow a hundred grand on a bottle of bubbly. That’s far too rich for my blood.”
Hsu-Chi winked at me. “Your blood would be worth even more, Rick.”
“Excuse me?”
Hsu-Chi waved me off. “Never mind. So: do we have a deal?”
“Well, you’re not exactly giving me very many options here.” I frowned. “Yeah, we’ve got a deal. Now tell me where to start looking for the jacket.”
“You’ve already started by coming here. You are well on your way to finding it. Your quest is afoot.”
I shook my head and finished off my champagne. “You keep using that word. I don’t consider this a quest. It’s a simple recovery operation. Nothing more, nothing less. Honestly, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal.”
“As you wish,” said Hsu-Chi. “However, I think before this is all over, you may well change your mind.”
“Whatever,” I said. “How about clueing me in on the whereabouts?”
“I can only point you in the right direction,” said Hsu-Chi. “So, go west young man.”
“Are you being funny now?” Hsu-Chi’s attitude was starting to grate on my nerves. I wanted solid information, not old cliches.
“Go west,” she repeated. “Specifically, go to the armory in Framingham. There you will find a man by the name of Thorssen. He has in his possession a clue to the whereabouts. I suspect he will be loathe to part with that information, however, so you may have to...apply pressure to make him talk to you.”
“I’m not going to torture anyone into giving me information.”
Hsu-Chi shrugged. “That is your decision to make, however, the longer you take to find the jacket, the more you risk someone else beating you to it.”
I frowned. “There are other parties interested in acquiring it?”
Hsu-Chi laughed. “Oh, my darling, Rick. I marvel at your naivete. If only you knew the truth about the jacket, then perhaps you would understand why it is so imperative that you find it first.” She placed a hand on her chest. “Sadly, it is not my place to tell you all the wonderful and horrible things about your predicament. But soon enough, you will come to this knowledge. I wonder how you will handle it?”
“Who else is after the jacket?”
Hsu-Chi eyed me for a moment and then finished her glass of champagne. “Maleagant.”
“Is that another brand of champagne?”
Hsu-Chi put her glass down and shook her head slowly. “You will find no humor in anything dealing with such a man as him. He is cruel. And every bit the opportunist. He would like nothing more than to possess the jacket that you seek.”
“To what end?”
Hsu-Chi paused, sighed, and then held out her hand. A fresh glass of champagne appeared in it, causing me to blink several times to be sure what I had just witnessed was real. She caught me and only smiled. “Yes, Rick, magic is indeed real.”
“Why does Maleagant want the jacket so badly?” I leaned forward. “Tell me. Please.”
“Because its importance is greater than what it is on its own. Do you understand? It is but a piece of a greater puzzle and its power would be magnified a thousand-fold if it were to be gathered with its other parts.”
I wished I could have made a glass of tequila appear by magic because I was really starting to want something stronger than champagne to process all of this stuff. “So, it’s not a jacket after all?”
Hsu-Chi sighed. I got the impression she was tiring of explaining everything to me. Then again, Dante hadn’t exactly been a fount of information, so I was learning on the job here.
“Appearances are deceiving. To you and others that insist on this world being the only truth, it will appear to be a jacket. To those of us who accept that there are other worlds, other realms, and the existence of magic, it may well appear to be something else entirely. Or not. There are any number of incarnations it could reasonably occupy.”
“None of that makes my job any easier,” I said.
“A quest is never meant to be easy,” said Hsu-Chi. “But it will almost certainly change you in ways you cannot imagine.”
“I kinda like myself the way I am,” I said. “But I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for this Maleagant character.”
“Have you ever studied Japanese culture, Rick?”
“I’ve studied Japanese martial arts for nearly three decades,” I said. “So, I guess you could say I’m reasonably well-versed in it.”
“Then surely you know what a musha shugyo is?”
I nodded. “A wandering quest of sorts. Samurai and other warriors would embark on a journey to hone their skills without the benefit of teachers, friends, or family. They were forced to rely upon what they had learned in order to survive. It was an ascetic type of training inspired by monks who did similar activities.”
Hsu-Chi nodded. “If you hate the notion of this being a quest, then perhaps you might look at this as your own musha shugyo. You will be away from your overlords at the mighty CIA. You will be on your own without anyone to rely upon but yourself. And you are in search of a powerful relic that others are also after. In many ways, you are about to discover the true essence of who you are. Who you really are.”
“I like to think that I have a pretty good handle on that already,” I said.
Hsu-Chi shook her head. “I hate to contradict you, Rick, but that is far from the truth. If you knew who you truly were, then you would not have done such silly things in your recent past. And yes, I know all about them. I saw them when I held your hand. Such is my gift, that of being able to tap into your mind and see things as they really are and what has been in your past. You are indeed a formidable man, but you are also plagued with many flaws. Those flaws have the potential to either transform you into something far mightier than you have ever been....” Her voice trailed off.
“Or?”
She took a sip from her glass. “Or they will result in your death. One way or another. Only you can decide which fate will be yours.”
“This conversation has definitely taken a turn for the worse,” I said. “First I get conned out of a million bucks-”
“I beg your pardon,” said Hsu-Chi. “I supplied you with valuable information. But that costs money.”
“Yeah, a shitload of it,” I said. “And then you spring it on me that there’s some other dude after the jacket. Finally, you tell me that I have all these faults and flaws that may well end up killing me.” I shook my head. “And to think, a few hours ago, I was just trying to get a workout in before watching TV all night.”
“This is far better than watching television,” said Hsu-Chi. “As unnerved as you are right now, you will come to find that your life, your world, and your destiny are meant for much bigger things than what you have done thus far.”
“Well, I’ve done some pretty amazing stuff,” I said.
“You’ve done nothing like this,” said Hsu-Chi. “Prepare yourself, Rick, because it is only going to get weirder from here on out.”
“Wonderful,” I said. I stood up, but Hsu-Chi held up her hand.
“Wait.”
“Why? I’ve got magic relics to find.” I smiled. “Can’t let that crazy Frenchman get there first.”
“He’s not French,” said Hsu-Chi.
“Maleagant sounds French,” I said. “So what is he?”
“Evil,” said Hsu-Chi. She clapped once and Charade appeared from behind the curtains. Hsu-Chi smiled at her. “Sit, my child.”
Charade sat and smiled at me. I frowned. “Were you back there the entire time?”
“Yes.”
“And you heard everything?”
Charade shrugged. “Of course.”
Hsu-Chi pointed. “She has been my closest confidant for many years. Charade is by my side constantly. My protector, my advisor, and my ally.”
“Just a little strange knowing that she heard our conversation.” I shrugged. “But if you’re okay with it…”
“Charade is going with you,” said Hsu-Chi.
“Excuse me?”
Hsu-Chi held up her hand. “You heard me, Rick. Trust is a very hard thing to come by in this world. Surely you understand that.”
“Of course, I do.” I put my hands on my hips. “But I work best alone. It’s how I operate. And I get the job done.”
“I have no doubt that you are more than capable,” said Hsu-Chi. “But you are about to enter a world you’ve never operated in before. You will need someone well-versed in its workings, someone who will be able to assist you in unraveling its myriad deceptions and illusions.”
I glanced at Charade. “And she can do all that?”
“Absolutely.”
Charade smiled at me. “As I said earlier, I am full of surprises.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Not exactly what I was thinking…”
“If you need further convincing,” said Hsu-Chi, “then just pretend she is along with you to look after my investment.”
“You think I’d stiff you on the million bucks?”
Hsu-Chi grinned. “I’ve been betrayed for far less than that, let me assure you.”
“Great, so she’s my babysitter then?”
Charade stood and placed her hand on my arm. “Think of me as your partner. Together, we can get more accomplished than you can on your own.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I can get quite a bit accomplished solo.”
“But you wouldn’t have nearly as much fun,” said Charade. Her eyes twinkled and I found my pulse beginning to race again. I swallowed and then looked at Hsu-Chi.
“You sure I can’t talk you out of this?”
“Would you really want to?” asked Hsu-Chi. “Charade is every bit your equal, you just haven’t seen it displayed yet.”
“All right,” I said after a moment. “When do we get started?”
Hsu-Chi drained her glass. “The only reason you’re still here is that you’ve been wasting time trying to insist on doing this alone, knowing full well that you would eventually acquiesce because you find Charade so attractive.”
“I never said that.” I glanced at Charade. “I never said that.”
Charade only smiled and turned to leave. Hsu-Chi waved me off. “Go, Rick Fury. Find Thorssen and hurry. If Maleagant learns that you are after the jacket, then he will accelerate his efforts to find it.”
I started to leave but then stopped. “Wait-if this jacket is so important, then why hasn’t anyone tried finding it before now? Why the sudden rush?”
Hsu-Chi’s smile faded from her face and she seemed sad. “Because now is the time of the Nexus. A gathering of items that will either protect this world or bring about its complete and utter subjugation.”
“Subjugation? To whom?”
Hsu-Chi shook her head. “To the creatures of your nightmares. Where even the likes of you will falter before the onslaught of evil.”
7
“Was she being serious?”
Charade stared out of the window while I drove west on the turnpike. A light drizzle had greeted us upon exiting from the building on Oxford Street. Old Man Cheng was nowhere to be seen as we’d walked past on the way back to my car. Now the drizzle had turned into a steady rain the further west we drove.
“Hsu-Chi is always serious,” said Charade. “Except when she is enjoying her champagne.”
“Yeah, but forces of evil? Different realms? Different worlds? What sort of nonsense is that?” My headlights cut a swath through the downpour, but even their brightness didn’t illuminate the darkness I felt swirling around me.
“It’s not nonsense,” said Charade. “Surely with everything you’ve done in your life, in your job, you’ve seen plenty of examples of evil.”
“Of course. But I never attributed those actions to anyone from another realm.”
Charade looked at me. “Really? What about Hitler? What about mass genocide?”
“The personification of evil,” I said. “I can agree to that, but not the notion that it’s coming from somewhere else.”
“What if the mass extermination of one group of people was just the precursor to the extinction of humanity? What if wasn’t about the Jews, per se, during the Second World War. What if they were just the starting point?”
“To what end?”
“Exactly what Hsu-Chi said: the subjugation and/or extermination of the entire human race.”
“By the stuff of nightmares,” I said. “I guess they’d be more likely to do it than another human being.”
Charade turned back to the window. “There are far more creatures than you know of in this world and others. Humans like to think of themselves as being at the top of the heap, but the fact is, they are not. There are plenty of competitors and they are a match for humans in every way.”
“Wonderful.” I gripped the steering wheel and exited the turnpike. The armory was a few miles off the highway. “How did you end up with Hsu-Chi?”
“It was inevitable,” said Charade. “My destiny, if you like to call it that.”
“Are you one of those people who believes everything they do is preordained? That they have no choice is what is coming?”
“Aren’t you?”
I shook my head. “I like thinking I’m in control of my own fate. I take personal responsibility for what happens. If you believe too much in fate then you start shirking responsibility for where you are in life.”
“Not necessarily.”
I shrugged. “My experience is obviously different from yours. A lot of people I know spend a lot of time insisting they’re not to blame for where they are, for why they’re so miserable, or why they’re in a loveless marriage. Fate, they say. Destiny. It makes me sick that they just accept it rather than try to change it for the better.”
Charade stayed quiet. Maybe she knew I needed to vent a bit, I don’t know.
“I’ve seen so much death and destruction that I can’t stomach the notion of settling for anything. People don’t understand that. They misunderstand me all the time. They see me aiming for more, for setting my sights higher and they assume I’m just doing it to rub it in their faces. The truth is, I’m doing it for myself and also to show others that they don’t have to settle if they’re willing to work for it.”
“You’re leading by example?”
“If you want to call it that, then yeah. I guess I’m trying to.”
Charade eyed me. “And how is that working out for you? Do you find others follow your lead?”
“Honestly? Very few do. The majority of people resent me for it.”
“So why do it?”
“My father,” I said.
“What about him?”
“He died when he was forty-eight years old. His father was the same age. Both of them lifelong smokers until a few years shy of their deaths. I’m 46 now. I don’t want to go out at 48. I want to live a long time. With no regrets. That’s just how I approach my life. And it’s worked for me.”
“Not everyone feels the same, though,” said Charade. “That’s your problem.”
“What is?”
“Accepting that others don’t want the same sort of life that you do. You’ve seen life gambled away, you’ve seen it taken away, you’ve seen it destroyed in so many ways that it holds a preciousness to you that others without your perspective simply cannot grasp. Your definition of life is as foreign to them as theirs is to you.”
I said nothing but she had a point.
“The problem comes when you start forcing your definition onto others. Of course they resent you. It’s like you’re telling them that their way of living is wrong or that it sucks because it’s not like yours.”
“I never thought of it like that.”
Charade rested a hand on my arm. “Would you want someone telling you how to live your life?”
“Of course not.”
“So stop telling others how to live theirs. If they like what you say, then they’ll change on their own. But just because they don’t change doesn’t mean their lives have any less meaning than yours does. It’s just different. That’s all.”
“Hsu-Chi said you’re one of her closest confidants.”
“Yes.”
I smiled. “I see why.”
Charade squeezed my arm. “Sometimes, it just helps to talk. And sometimes it just helps to listen.”
“Thank you.”
She turned and pointed. “Is that it?”
The armory stood in front of us. It wasn’t a functioning armory any longer, more of a museum for old weapons. I thought it peculiar that there would be someone here with information about the jacket, but if Hsu-Chi said this was the place, then so be it.
The armory was closed, of course, given that it was almost midnight. I mentioned this to Charade who merely shrugged.
“He will still be here.”
“How can you be so certain? I’d have gone home ages ago.”
“Thorssen is not you, Rick. He may have felt the need to stay tonight.”
I frowned. “Like he knew we’d be coming?”
Charade nodded. “The sooner you start accepting that your preconceived notions are most likely illusions designed to keep you from realizing new truths about your world, the better off you will be. Magic exists in so many states and forms, most people have it. Whether you use it or not is another matter.”
I slid my car into park and we got out. The grounds of the armory sprawled before us, lit up with floodlights every fifty meters. The manicured lawns and shrubs surrounded the old stone building. The steps were flanked by a pair of stone lions. Part of me wondered if they’d suddenly spring to life and attack us.
Charade smiled at me. “Not these.”
