Page 58 of Cherry Moon

The hourglass crumbled away, G finally free from the damn thing.

“You good over there?” I called.

“I’m fine,” he returned, his poor voice croaky.

Zach pulled off his T-shirt, using the katana to cut pieces from it to bandage his bleeding palms.

“Are you okay?” I signed at him, totally in awe.

A different kind of light shone within him. He seemed different, almost taller, more muscular. A proper warrior. Elevated.

He nodded, then gestured to the garden.

There were creatures on the grass. The orange jelly chicken blobs, hopping from foot to foot.

“You killed her! You killed one of The Nine!”

“Gold star observational skills!” I called back to them.

Wankers.

Zach drew his gun from its holster, tossing it to me.

I caught it, more than happy to lend a hand in taking them down.

Adjusting my position slightly, I opened fire and blew off some legs, tore off chunks of jelly while Zach twirled and sliced and diced until my garden was once again free of monsters.

Just like it should be.

FOUR HOURS LATER

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

AKIRA

Ah, the sweet flood of painkillers.

The lovely people at Hereford County Hospital fixed me up good, and thankfully I’d had no major arteries severed by the gardening tool. And the staff, along with the SCU, made sure we were hidden away from sight. We didn’t want any paparazzi or the public getting snaps of me, splashing my name everywhere.

I kept a low profile nowadays, a Murakami or not. And it would be staying that way.

Painkillers didn’t dull my anger at the tenshi, though. They’d played a game with me, shuffled me across the board like a pawn.

I didn’t go for that.

They’d left me a note. Two minutes ago, it fluttered down from the ceiling like a feather, landing in my lap.

The paper was pale pink with a red edge, still in my hands, my eyes repeatedly scanning the text.

Dearest Akira,

You have chosen your fate.

Your choice does not make you less of a target, only one without the gifts of the Cherry Blade.

The mazoku will still hunt you. For you are the symbol of their failure, and the death of the tenshi-blooded mortal is a trophy, a mark of success.

Be sure to defend yourself. As you were told, the resources of our power are being used elsewhere.