Wet: Undercurrent (9 page)

Masato said, “He doesn’t have a choice. You see, Lulu, there weren’t twelve wards. There were thirteen. This chalice is the last. It gives the bearer, the head of the Mizuno family, complete control over the
ageman
. He has to do everything I say while I hold this.” Masato walked back around the pool to the fallen priest and nudged the man with his foot. “Get up and finish your job.”

The priest startled awake. He looked around in confusion before getting to his feet.

Lulu whispered, “I thought you killed him?”

Hotsuma said, “I only made him unconscious. I didn’t want to kill an innocent man. None of this is his fault.”

Masato laughed. “You two idiots are made for each other. If you had just killed me and the priest, you would have been free. Sentimentality and compassion is for suckers.”

The priest started his chanting once more. Hotsuma let his shoulders slump in defeat. Masato was right. Hotsuma should have killed him when he had the chance. He shouldn’t have let Lulu interfere. But he couldn’t place all blame on her. Hotsuma didn’t want to be responsible for killing a member of his family. He let Lulu save Masato so he wouldn’t have to carry that burden.

He tightened his arms around Lulu and dropped his head to her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“So am I.” She turned so she faced him.

Masato said, “Aren’t you two sweet? You have just enough time for a goodbye kiss. Make it a good one. It’s the last thing you’ll ever feel.”

Hotsuma wanted to ignore the man’s words, but that would hurt him. This was the last time he would hold her. He wanted to forget everything else and enjoy that.

Lulu circled her arms around his neck as his lips met hers. Her kiss felt electric and hot. Hotsuma thought it was the passion they felt for one another until the kiss turned painful. He pulled back but still couldn’t release her.

Electricity filled the room. Masato screamed as some of it hit him. He grabbed the priest by the front of the robes and shook him. “What are you doing? Stop! Stop!”

The priest shook his head in confusion. “This isn’t me. I… I’m performing the binding spell, as you requested.”

“You’re doing it wrong.”

“Something’s interfering.”

Masato shoved away from the priest and turned his anger on Hotsuma and Lulu. “It’s you. Ever since you came to this hotel, you’ve been a pain in my ass.” He stalked back to the trunk, this time pulling out a gun. “Enough of this shit. You’re going to die anyway, and no one said you had to be alive to do this spell.”

Hotsuma lashed out at Masato, sending a wave of water at the man to stop him. At the same time, he tried to shove Lulu to the side. The command for him to hold her was still in effect, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t move with her.

Masato fired the gun as the water hit him. Lulu jerked back and grabbed her shoulder with a cry of pain.

“Lulu!” Hotsuma cradled her as she went to her knees.

“Fuck!” Masato wrestled to keep hold of his gun but the water Hotsuma controlled yanked it from him and carried it to the bottom of the pool. When Hotsuma would have surrounded Masato next, the man brandished the chalice at him and snapped, “Get off me.”

Hotsuma had to obey. The water dropped, leaving Masato a clear path. He rushed over to Lulu and wrapped his free hand around her throat, choking her. Over his shoulder, he yelled, “Finish the damn spell.”

The priest chanted faster and louder.

The electricity in the room intensified.

As one, Hotsuma, Lulu, and Masato all screamed in pain. Hotsuma felt himself losing consciousness. This was it. This was the end. He was going back to his watery tomb to be a slave to the Mizuno family for the rest of time. His only regret was that Lulu was coming with him.

Lulu rubbed her shoulder when it started throbbing. She’d been sitting at her computer too long.

“You okay, Lulu?”

She smiled at Stan’s worried look. Her boss was a sweet guy. He’d been beside himself trying to do anything and everything for her since she’d returned to him with a gunshot wound. A wound that could have been so much worse if not for Hotsuma’s powers extending to her. The bullet that had passed through her shoulder close to her chest had missed all bones and arteries -- a flesh wound. The doctors and nurses told her over and over how lucky she had been. Their words were meant to comfort but, like Stan’s concern, only made the pain in her shoulder worse.

“I’m fine. Just a little sore.”

“Go home. I told you to take more time off.”

“I’m fine, Stan. Really.”

“Any news about that robber you stopped?”

“Nope.” She returned her gaze to her computer. She hated lying to her boss but that was the story she had to tell. The Mizunos had stepped in to clean up the aftermath of the spell. Instead of cleaning up her dead body, they’d had to pay for her medical bills and provide her hush money and a cover story.

Lulu had valiantly stopped a thief from stealing one of the Mizuno family’s prized treasures, taking a bullet for her trouble. The thief got away, and the gun he used had been registered to Masato so there was no way to find the man. And of course her memory was too fuzzy to recall what he looked like.

All of it was a nice little gift-wrapped file for the police cold case cabinet. The Mizunos wanted to forget and so did Lulu. She wanted to forget, but four months later she still couldn’t.

She could never forget waking up cold, wet, and naked with Masato half draped over her body and several hotel employees along with men in business suits bustling around the scene. Lulu lost track of the priest and Hotsuma in all the confusion of being packed off to the hospital.

Once the doctors let her have visitors, the Mizuno family lawyer stopped by with a substantial check, a non-disclosure agreement, and their version of what had happened. Lulu managed to take it all in stride until they informed her she was barred from ever setting foot in Onsen again.

That made sense. She was the only one who could free Hotsuma now that he was bound again. She assumed the binding had worked, or else barring her from Onsen made no sense. The Mizunos didn’t want her showing up and trying to free him again.

“Lulu?”

“Huh?” She looked at Stan. “I’m sorry. Did you say something?”

He placed his hand on her uninjured shoulder. “Did you talk to a therapist, like I suggested? Getting shot is a big deal. You need to talk to someone.”

“I’m fine.” And she couldn’t talk to anyone. Therapy wouldn’t do her any good if she couldn’t tell the truth. And say she did tell the truth -- the therapist would recommend Lulu be locked up in a psychiatric ward for the rest of her days. Water spirits,
ageman
, barrier spells -- Lulu wouldn’t believe any of it either if it hadn’t happened to her.

She forced herself to smile and look cheerful. “I’m totally fine, Stan. As soon as I finish up this report, I’ll head home. Promise.”

“Good. I want you rested.” He patted her shoulder and then walked away. Before he entered his office, he turned back and said, “Oh, hey, I almost forgot why I came out here. The board members are loving the idea of giving the hotel a more Russian feel. They are already budgeting money to make renovations to add more saunas as well as procuring some Russian art to hang around the place.”

“That’s great.”

He gave her a thumbs up. “Onsen may be known for its hot springs, but Voda is going to be on the map for our many and varied saunas. We’ll beat them yet.”

“Yup.”

“Just wanted to let you know the board appreciates you as much as I do. Back to work I go.”

She waved and kept her smile in place until Stan closed the door. Beat Onsen? Voda never would. Not so long as Hotsuma resided in a secret room at the end of an invisible hallway. No one could compete with the power of a mystical good luck charm that guaranteed results.

The throbbing in her shoulder intensified. Thinking about Hotsuma always made it hurt worse. She decided to focus on her work. One more report, and she could end her work day. Not that she was in any hurry to go home. At home was where she relived her last day with Hotsuma, trying to figure out if there was anything she could have done differently.

She could have let Masato drown. She could have finished breaking the wards instead of indulging in sex. She could have ignored her curiosity and left that invisible hallway alone. She could have not been born with these stupid powers in the first place.

When Lulu asked about the family history, her grandmother had mailed out Lulu’s great grandfather’s diary. Nash Swade had kept a log of all his clients and what he’d done for them as well as a family history of who had inherited the power.

The last page spoke of Nash’s regret of not passing the power to his son because he knew the family would suffer financial loss without it. He hadn’t been wrong. Lulu’s family wasn’t poor, but it had taken two generations to reform their spending habits. By the time they did, most of the family wealth had been squandered, and the family split apart due to financial strife.

Lulu had no plans to tell anyone that she had the power. She’d excused her curiosity about Nash as idle gossip amongst some of the older folks that she wanted to verify. She didn’t want them depending on her, not like that. In fact, after all that had happened, she wanted to forget she even had the power.

She typed in the last of the report, saved it, and followed the procedure to send it off to the next cog in the company machine. Her work day had ended.

Going home filled her with as much dread as coming to work. At work, she had to deal with everyone’s concern and congratulations for being a hero. At home, she had to face the truth and the pain it always caused her.

She sighed and resigned herself to the inevitable as she left. The late afternoon sun blinded her when she exited the office building. When her vision cleared, she almost ran back inside.

“Hello, Lulu.”

“Masato.” She said his name like the curse it was. He was the last man she wanted to see.

He lounged against the side of his limo with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his light gray, three-piece suit. “You look well.”

“No thanks to you.” She tightened her grip on her purse and walked away from him. To her annoyance, he followed her. “Go away.”

“We need to talk.”

“We have nothing to talk about.”

“I think we do.”

“Thinking isn’t your strong point, then.” She locked her gaze on her car, refusing to waver from that path. Just a few more steps, and she could leave him behind. If he followed her home, she would call the cops.

What the hell was he doing there, anyway? The Mizunos had a quiet restraining order against her. She wasn’t supposed to go near them, and they would stay away from her. What game was Masato playing now?

“Lulu.”

“Drop dead.”

“Did that once already. I didn’t enjoy it.”

“Well, it didn’t take. Try again.” She sidestepped a pothole full of water and reached for her car door. Her fingers bumped against a wall of water that sprung up, separating her from the car. She stared at it, not believing it was there.

“Lulu.”

Her heartbeat thundered in her ears as she faced Masato.

He pulled his shades low on his nose and stared at her over the rims. His eyes, which should have been dark brown, glowed crystal blue. “We need to talk.”

She whispered, “Okay.”

There was a soft splash behind her. She startled and turned to see the water in the pothole swishing around. Her heartbeat sped up when Masato cupped her elbow and guided her back to his waiting limo. She let him usher her inside and waited while he got in after her.

“Home,” Masato said before rolling up the dividing window.

The car pulled into traffic while they stared at each other. Lulu’s image reflected in Masato’s shades. She was glad she looked as confused and scared as she felt. “What’s going on, Masato? Why are your eyes like that? How did you do that with the water?”

He pulled off his shades with a tired sigh. “I wish you would stop calling me Masato. I have to put up with it enough from everyone else. I don’t want to deal with it from you too.”

Lulu’s eyes went wide. “I don’t understand.”

He moved to her side so he could take her hand in his and kiss her open palm. “The family calls me Masato. You can call me Hotsuma.”

Tears stung her eyes and she blinked quickly to hold them back. “What?”

He cupped her cheek and smiled. “I know you’re confused. I was too when I woke up in Masato’s body.”

“You’re in Masato’s body. Where’s Masato?”

“He’s in here too. He’s dormant, though.”

“So a split personality?”

“No. He can’t do anything but sit there.”

“How can you be sure?”

Hotsuma moved his hand to her shoulder, the one where she’d been shot, and slipped her blouse aside. Being exposed to the air-conditioned air of the limo made her shiver, but the feel of his lips pressed against her bare shoulder turned her body hot.