Echo’s daughter had been the one to convince me to bring back Xander, with the help of her girlfriend, Sunny. They claimed to want to help in the name of love. But Aoiki didn’t realize her girlfriend had ulterior motives in performing that spell on the blade.
Aoiki had been betrayed, like me, but I didn’t know how I felt about her.
Even thinking of the girl, and that night brought waves of shame crashing over me.
“Come, come,” Ryuki said, ushering me over. His English needed a lot of work, but his hospitality was off the charts, balancing out his brusque wife. Most surprising was how he doted on her like she was the queen of Sheba.
While Echo did her thing, Ryuki and I sipped tea in companionable silence while occasionally petting the soft rabbits I’d settled down next to.
Echo’s hands smacked with a tremendous crack as she let out a victorious cry. I jumped in my seat.
“Aha! Gotcha sucker.”
Echo waved me over then swiveled her chair to face a different screen. "Here, on the Strip.” I stood next to her, and she pointed to a live feed showing the bustling heart of Las Vegas. The neon lights flickered in the background, casting colorful glows on the faces of oblivious tourists and locals alike. In the midst of the crowd, a small figure darted between people, causing mischief.
“That's Bes,” Echo clarified, her eyes narrowing. “According to Egyptian mythology, he's a protector, but now the little shit is just stirring up trouble. To mortals, he'll look like a particularly unruly child.”
On the screen, the figure identified as Bes was no taller than a six-year-old, but with an unusual appearance—a wide, grinning face and hair that seemed to stand on end.
Every person he reached out and touched suddenly seemed overcome by some kind of emotion. Two people fell into a fist fight. A trio of strangers all disrobed and began to grope and fondle each other. Several people curled into balls on the ground, sobbing their faces off.
“He's in the pedestrian area near the Menaggio fountains,” Ryuki added, his voice tinged with concern.
I grabbed my gear, feeling a mix of adrenaline and resolve. Bes needed to be stopped, immediately. “I'm on it,” I said, heading for the door.
“Be careful, Miranda,” Echo called after me. “Bes is tricky and unpredictable.”
The city's pulse beat like a drum in my ears as I navigated through the traffic, the neon lights painting the night in surreal colors.
As I approached the bustling area near the Menaggio fountains, the chaotic energy grew palpable. A couple of people recorded on their phones from a still-safe distance, confused expressions marring their faces.
Amidst the chaotic crowd, I caught sight of my target—Bes, the small, mischievous Egyptian god. His devilish grin sent shivers down my spine as I pressed forward, determined to stop his malicious games. Fists collided with faces and bodies crashed to the ground all around me, but I remained focused on my goal.
I weaved to avoid a man smashing his fist into someone’s eye. I stopped up short when a woman fell to her knees before me, sobbing to the heavens. Hands clawed at my clothes, along with pleas to come fuck them. I shook them off.
Bes clapped his hands together, delighted by the outbursts, as if it were a special show being put on just for him.
As I closed in, the tension in the air thickened like a volatile bomb ready to detonate. Once I got within twenty feet, Bes finally took notice of my presence and his smile widened into a sinister smirk.
He raised his chubby hand and summoned a searing orange energy that crackled and sizzled with ancient power.
Laughter turned to hysterical shrieks as people started lashing out, their faces twisted with wild expressions.
The mass of bodies and emotions surged around me. If I didn’t do something, I was going to be taken down by the riot.
“Hey Bes, you want to mess with someone?” I called out, drawing the Blade of Bane and elbowing people out of the way. “Come play with me.”
The crowd's mood shifted to confusion and fear at the sight of the weapon, their emotions still being toyed with by the god. Many of them ran screaming from me, crying out that I’d killed them.
Bes laughed, a high-pitched sound that grated my nerves. He leaped towards me, surprisingly agile. I dodged, but not quickly enough—his sharp, diminutive claws raked across my arm, leaving a burning sensation that told me his touch was more than just physical.
Gritting my teeth against the pain, I swung the Blade of Bane in a wide arc, but Bes dodged effortlessly, his laughter echoing mockingly around us.
His touch burrowed into me like a venomous snake, injecting its poison into my veins and unleashing all of my repressed emotions. My skin seared with a primal yearning, every fiber of my being consumed with the need to find Xander. Memories flooded my mind, of being chained to that bed with him, our inhibitions stripped away in fits of laughter and desperate clinging.
But then, anger boiled within me, threatening to erupt like a volcanic eruption.
My fingers twitched around the handle of the Blade of Bane, its cool metal offering a small sense of grounding in this chaotic moment. My skin prickled with the heat of my own anger and the icy chill of fear, a physical manifestation of the emotions raging within me.
