Dreamlands (26 page)

“While you hang behind,” Inukawa snarled.

FELICITAS IVEY

188

“I am trapped here!” I said painfully, angered by the implication that I was a coward. “Bound to this place so that I would not interfere in Satomi’s plots again and stripped of any power I had aside from my control over the shadows.”

“We will go with you and add our voice to yours when you talk with the others,” Inusuka said. “Let us give our leave to Hamaji.” I nodded but stayed behind. The lady and I had never gotten along. She had never forgiven me for using her to channel the spirit of my lady before she had been rescued by Inusuka. I didn’t blame her. I studied the plum blossoms further, waiting and hating having to, wanting nothing more than to be able to rescue Keno.

The next
Hakkenshi
we went to was Inukai Genpachi. He had been a lower-class samurai when he was alive, and that hadn’t changed in the Dreamlands. He stayed at the edge of the pleasure quarters in the Dreamlands’ spectral version of Edo instead of living in a
shonen
like most of his brothers. I wasn’t surprised to see that he was gambling in one of the dens there.

Inukai straightened when he saw us and gathered up his money.

There were some protests, but they were all silenced when the scum saw us. Inukai didn’t say anything until we were out of the place.

“What happened?” he growled.

“Our mother has been stolen into the real world,” Inukawa said.

Inukai snarled. “There is more.”

He would know that. For all the man was an ignorant fighter, there was something about him that let him know things that were better hidden. It was an annoying talent, at times.

Inusuka grinned. “Do you think that Samojirou-sama would actually be honest with us? The man does not play the Game, but he keeps his own secrets. He will tell us in his own time.” Inukai nodded. “I will tell Konbungo and Shinbee to meet us at our brother Dousetsu’s dwelling. From there we can watch Samojirou-sama avoid getting his throat ripped out by our father.” 189

DREAMLANDS

“We need to gather our brother Daikaku also,” Inukawa said.

Inukai grunted. “Daikaku is on a retreat, meditating. We would never be able to find him in time. But his wife should know where he is. She will have him meet us at Tamazusa-sama’s estate when it is time for us to leave.”

“And how do you know this?” I asked.

“His wife has told me in the past of such things,” he said. “I go over there to check on her, since a woman alone needs a man around to fuss over.”

I wondered if there was something else that was going on and decided I didn’t care. The
Hakkenshi
were close; over the centuries they had become a power to be feared here. It was their disinterest in the Game that stopped them from becoming a power in it. But then, the
Hakkenshi
had always been better as tools than as players.

KENO

I WOKE up with a light shining in my eyes. I was naked and tied to a chair. I felt like I had been beaten, because I hurt all over. I remember jerking helplessly from all the electricity that was flowing through my body. The room was really cold, and I noticed I was shivering. Murphy, another man I recognized but didn’t know his name, and a stranger were all staring at me. The stranger felt bad to me, and I knew the other man was a Trustee, even if I didn’t remember his name. I wondered what had happened to Fuse and had visions that she was being treated the same way. Or worse. I had realized over the years that a large proportion of the people here were sadists.

“What did you tell them, gook?” Murphy asked.

He hit me, striking me across the face. I choked and felt my head slam into something hard. I saw stars or something and felt like I had FELICITAS IVEY

190

been hit by Kazuya. I opened my mouth to say something, and he backhanded me again. I decided that saying nothing was the best thing, since he wasn’t interested in hearing me anyway. I knew that was true when he started hitting me in the stomach.

After a few minutes of that, the stranger barked, “Enough!” Murphy hit me one more time and stepped back, rubbing his hands. I was choking and gasping for breath, tears running down my face. The stranger pulled my head back by my hair, studying me. My ribs hurt, and I was having trouble breathing. I thought Murphy might have cracked a few of them.

“Why were you taken?” he demanded.

It took me a minute to realize what he was saying, because my brain was screaming that him touching me was a bad thing. “I don’t know,” I lied.

The guy let go off my hair and stepped back. “He just needs his hands and his brain to program for you, if you trust him anymore.” The Trustee guy sniffed. “Crude, but accurate. And we can always trust him because he knows what the alternatives are, and we do have people who will make sure that he is loyal. The talent that he has is rare, so we shouldn’t permanently damage it. Don’t be such a thug, Fairinox.”

“I’ll ask you one more time, boy, why, out of all the survivors of that fuck up, were you taken?”

“There were survivors?” I gasped.

That was the wrong thing to say, because Fairinox shook his head. “Let’s leave this in Murphy’s capable hands, Mr. Collins. He’ll get the answers that we want from the boy.” That made me shiver harder. Murphy grinned. “I’ll get some help, and the gook will spill his fucking guts.” 191

DREAMLANDS

The other two left, and Murphy stepped out of my line of sight, talking on his cell phone. “Get a couple of the boys down here. The kind who don’t mind getting their hands dirty.” While he was waiting for his reinforcements to arrive, Murphy ranted. He started with gook and finished with cross-dressing faggot.

Fuck was used a lot. But what had gotten these three angry was that Fuse was under the protection of one of the other Trustees and was hands-off after the initial examination. Mason was her protection. I thought that Wolf was doing something that he didn’t like too, from what Murphy was screaming about.

Krauss and someone else showed up. I didn’t know who he was.

Krauss was acting like he was a kid on his birthday, and the other guy was grinning. Whatever they had planned, it wasn’t going to end nicely for me. My stomach flipped over.

“Get the fucking gook to tell us what he knows about that gook bitch and the rest of her operation,” Murphy snarled at the two of them.

He stood back and let the other two do whatever they wanted to me.

I WASN’T surprised that no one asked me questions. I was beaten, loosening most of my teeth, blackening both eyes, and breaking my nose. A couple of fingers were broken and more toes, along with a rib or two. I had passed out while being tossed between the two of them like a punching bag. I woke up curled in a corner, covered in my own filth and theirs, as well as blood, while I took inventory of what was broken. I hurt too much to figure out if I had been raped. I was thinking not, because that was something Murphy wouldn’t like. Too gay for him. I was going to keep thinking that, because I didn’t want to think that it had happened again.

Murphy was sitting in a chair, grinning. “What do you know, gook?”

FELICITAS IVEY

192

“Nothing,” I said in Japanese.

That pissed him off, and he leaped up and kicked me in the stomach. “English!”

“I don’t know anything,” I repeated in my native tongue when I could breathe again.

He kicked me again and repeated the question. Every time I answered in Japanese, he stomped on something. I guess kicking was boring him. I was screaming a few minutes into this, but I was stupid and stubborn enough to keep on not speaking English for the man. I didn’t know why I was doing it. Maybe I was hoping someone would rescue me. Or that Murphy would kill me, and it would be all over.

I was curled up and sobbing hysterically when Wolf rushed into the room. He was looking a little wild and stared at Murphy in horror.

The man had taken a break from kicking me, but you could tell what had been happening.

“You know that I would have sworn that Keno was suffering from a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome, which he was getting some counseling and treatment for, which was why he was out of circulation,” Wolf said. “He sounded like… Keno acted like he was happier in that place than here. I thought that they had done something to him. But then I bumped into Krauss and Steele.” Wolf paused for a second. “They’re both in the infirmary. Broken hands are the least of their worries.”

“You trust the fucking gook after what you’ve seen?” Murphy demanded. “He was their fucking pet. He probably told them everything that they wanted to know about us. He was probably spilling his guts since they picked him up. Shit! He got Heiseg killed.” Wolf started swearing in German. He scooped me up, and I started beating on him to let me go because I didn’t want him touching me, because I hurt, because I was filthy. Wolf held me, even though I was using a lot more skill than he thought I had. He just waited for me to stop fighting him. When I had exhausted my strength, he carried me out of there. He paused at the door. “You’re relieved of duties until an internal investigation is done. Along with Collins and Fairinox.” 193

DREAMLANDS

“You’re full of fucking shit!” Murphy roared. “Who has the authority?”

“Elizabeth Adams and my grandfather, who is also a Trustee,” Wolf said coldly. “But you knew that.”

Murphy sagged, and that was the last thing I saw before I passed out.

FELICITAS IVEY

194

KENO

I WOKE up someplace else, my eyes bandaged. “I don’t know,” I slurred before anyone could ask me anything.

“Keno-chan,” Fuse chided me, “you are safe now.” She gave me a straw, and I sipped the water, thinking it was the most wonderful thing in the universe. I wanted to cry when she pulled it away, but I also knew that too much might make me sick.

“They didn’t hurt you,” I mumbled.

“Mason-san was very kind to me,” she said. “But I do not think that these people know how serious this issue is.” I wanted to say something, but I drifted off again. When I woke up, I felt a little better and tried to sit up. I could wiggle my toes and fingers, but I had trouble moving because I was so tired. The bandages were off my eyes, and I was relieved I could see again. I was clean, and that felt wonderful. I wanted Samojirou, though, and tears started to slip down my face.

“Keno-chan, you are safe,” Fuse said. She was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit that looked dreadful on her. She looked tired, and I 195

DREAMLANDS

was worried about what had been done to her. I didn’t say anything, but I heard her hissing at someone. “What did you do to him?”

“I’m fine,” I said. “Don’t….”

“I know why Samojirou-sama did what he did.” Fuse told me quietly.

“He can’t leave,” I choked out. “There’s no door.” She sighed. “He will send someone because he cannot,” she promised. “And I know that my consort will come, if not my sons.”

“Family,” I muttered. “Didn’t tell them anything.”

“Keno,” Wolf said gently.

“I hurt,” I announced. “Not like last time, though. That was a surprise. I didn’t think―”

“You were just beaten,” Wolf assured me, sounding a little panicked. “They didn’t….”

Why wasn’t I surprised that he couldn’t say it either? The man didn’t want to think that it could happen to me or anyone. I had thrown enough hints out about what was happening, and he had done nothing! I had hoped he might be able to stop it like Mason tried to do. I would have done anything for Wolf if he had stopped the other TCs from abusing me.

“Just beaten!” Fuse snapped. “Do not be such an idiot.” I couldn’t believe she sounded like that, like she was his mother.

Mason came and saved Wolf from getting yelled at more, I swear.

“Quacks don’t want you to get coffee yet,” he said. “But you…

you looked good when you kicked Kazuya’s ass.” I struggled but eventually managed to sit up. I didn’t hurt as much as I did before, and I wondered about that. I probably was on some good painkillers if I was this pain-free after the beating I received. I felt really weird, though, when I realized I wasn’t wearing anything more than a pair of shorts. I blushed, but Fuse just smiled.

FELICITAS IVEY

196

“You are doing well, Keno-chan,” she said softly.

“How do you know my name?” I asked.

I felt like I should still be Sakura, but that was something I didn’t want these people tainting. I knew they knew about it, but I didn’t want them calling me that name. That was what Samojirou called me. A new name for a new life, even if he still called me Keno sometimes. I knew then that I didn’t want to be Keno anymore. I was tired of the abuse I got as him.

Fuse smiled. “Mason-san was kind enough to tell me. I now know why Samojirou-sama insisted on calling you Sakura. A very good move in the Game. We would have never guessed it was you otherwise.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

She gently touched my left shoulder, the one with my birthmark on it, asking in English so Mason would understand, since we had been speaking in Japanese. My English seemed as far away as the moon to me, so it was hard for me to understand her. “You were born with this mark, were you not?”