I
followed Krim to a noodle restaurant not too far away. Unlucky for them, as we
strode in most of the customers decided to leave. One giant foreign freak maybe
but two? Nope. Time to go. We demons are not cheap bastards so we would tip
accordingly. In no time we had a steaming bowl of seafood and noodles.
“I’ve
traveled over two thousand years backwards and forward in time and over ten
thousand miles. This soup is almost worth the effort by itself,” I said.
“Time
travel? Somebody is interested in what we are doing. Care to share who?”
“The
Church is the only player who concerns you and I. There are others but don’t
know the names to even name as of yet. So what have you been up to?”
“Just
lining my pockets as usual. This almost immortality thing gets boring, even
with taking bad souls. Making money is just a little game I play to keep my
more destructive side at bay.”
I
could not argue with him there. Even I have a chaotic and destructive side.
“Rumor
has it you are getting into something bigger. The money game has got to get
old.”
“It
is. I mean how many yachts, airplanes, estates, castles and houses and
corporations are enough? I’m getting close to finding out. So I started
thinking about what’s next. What’s a new game I can play without getting into
too much trouble? Then I hear about this guy-“
“Mr.
Ahrimani?”
“Yeah,
Mr. Ahrimani. He’s this soulless arms dealer type, you know sell bad things to
anyone for the right price. He gets a lead on something new, something big. Not
only endless profit potential but also endless power potential. He likes it.
But even he lacks the funds.”
“And that’s where you
come in?”
“Yeah. But he’s gotta
sell me on the idea first. I was not born yesterday after all.”
We both share a loud,
demonic laugh. One or two more patrons decide it is a good time to go.
“Well, I agree to
meet in Venice with him and a few others. They have figured out how to transfer
machine intelligence into a human body grown in a lab. It is an AI that looks
like and well… sorta is a person.”
“And?”
“They create Libby.
They create or build a few others.”
“Females and males?”
“Yeah but they can’t
reproduce. But make sexy time? Oh yeah! That’s one of their weapons.”
“Weapons for what?”
“They have their own
agenda.”
“This gets more
interesting all the time. So what’s the plan?”
“Perhaps Venetia can
explain it better than I can. Care to meet her? You will be impressed.”
“I thought it was
Libby.”
“She changed her name
shortly after becoming sentient.”
“Whatever, I’m in.”
“Need to lose your
new associates first. I don’t think they are ready yet.”
“I’m kind of
obligated. Among other things they have my custom hyabusa.”
“ You don’t have to
lose them permanently, just for awhile. Humor an old friend?”
“This sounds too fun
to pass up. Let me make a call.”
Krim nodded in
agreement. I called over the owner of the restaurant and politely asked if
there was a phone I could use in fluent Japanese. He nervously produced his
Apple iPhone and handed it to be and backed away slowly. We demons don’t carry
manmade tracking devices; thank you very much. I could tell Krim and I were
quickly wearing out our welcome here. We needed to move on before cops came and
created an international incident. I put in a quick call to the padre to let
him know I was on the case and would be scarce for the next few days. I hung up
before he got his first question completely finished. The owner looked on with
fear in his eyes as we got up to go. I pulled out a huge wad of yen and left it
on the counter under his iPhone. It was equal to around a good week’s worth of
business.
“The soup was
delicious!” I told him in Japanese.
“Delicious,” Krim
added leaving around the same amount of yen next to mine.
Making people happy
by leaving is a demon thing I guess. Down the street a little I stopped quickly
when I realized I had no idea where we were going. The rain had not let up.
“Where do we need to
go, Krim?”
“Venice, Italy.”
“So travel the demon
way? I’m tired of planes.”
“Yeah; church,
cemetery, monastery or palace?”
“Let’s take cemetery
for $100!”
“Yanaka is quite
beautiful this time of year.”
“A cab is not big
enough for the both of us.” I had barely got the words out when a black, sleek
Rolls Royce Ghost stopped next to us.
“Ask and Krim will
provide,” my smiling friend said.
We got into his
luxury ride and made our way through town. His driver was a small time Oni
looking to make his way up in the world. That explained the just in time
service. I did not have to worry about being asked a lot of annoying questions
or a driver with lose lips. Onis (Japanese demons) are known for their loyalty
and code of silence.
“Sam, when you are
ready to trade in the bike, let me know. I’ll make one of these happen for you.
I’ll even add a driver,” Krim said.
“Not now. I’ll keep
your offer in mind.”
We were both silent. Was
this some half-assed attempt at temptation? Krim was being very friendly. PSA-
be leery of overly friendly demons. All I could do was watch beautiful Tokyo
slide by from Krim’s luxurious ride. It was nice to just sit a few
minutes.
We finally arrived at
the cemetery. The driver popped the trunk and Krim retrieved his walking staff
capped with a small crystal ball.
“I guess you don’t
have yours?”
“Yeah, I left my
walking stick in Mississippi. Didn’t anticipate demon travel. Left my walking
stick in Mississippi, that has to be a blues song.”
“It is,” Krim
replied. “No worry mine is strong enough for both of us.”
Somewhere near the
middle of the cemetery, we both held the stick and tapped the wet ground nine
times. In a flash of blue, green light we were gone.
