Merripit House: The Dark Daiyokai
Judged Jury
Why?
Why would Theda go against her nature and aim to avenge the death of Izanami and the defeat of Daiichi?
Why would Theda wake the feathered serpent gods only to arrange for a human to kill them?
Why have El Comedor del Hombre imprison and feed Kukulkan before having him killed?
Why did Theda take Kukulkan's body?
Why does Theda believe the world is due another holocaust?
As soon as Jenny found a way to align the conflicting actions, perhaps she could have a better handle on Theda's ultimate motivation and desire. She had evidence and information. Now it just needed digestion. So she sat cross-legged on a pile of cushions with her eyes closed and her hands resting on each of her knees, palms face up.
She would have preferred silence, but even on a private jet — paid for by the U.N. — that was a hard commodity to come by.
The noise started with Rosario working on getting Sesshomaru to step foot inside the massive metal container with wings. "Get in the plane, Sesshomaru," she said.
He snorted in response. "I will fly on my own."
"Get in the plane."
"No."
"Look, when we're on a case, we rarely have time to regroup and debrief. Flying time is one of those rare moments."
"I have the radio. I will listen."
"The earpieces don't work up in the air, and we can't use our cell phones either. Just get on the plane."
Liu brushed past the arguing pair with a phone glued to his ear. Although he spoke in Tongan, the unshed tears in his eyes, husky voice and tense posture as he took the first seat he could stumble into said that the person on the other end of the line was family. At first, he tried to keep his composure as he subtly asked how his grandmother fared. But as soon as this person told him she'd passed away the day before, his whole body collapsed under him.
Rosario sputtered at another one of Sesshomaru's suggestions which had been lost in the noise of Liu's conversation. "No, that's, how would that even work, dude? Look, there's plenty of room in here. You can stand up straight, walk around, lean your seat back and take a nap. Just get on the freakin' plane."
"Liftoff in two minutes," Michaelis said, sticking his head out the door. He, too, had a phone attached to his ear, and by his expression, he did not agree with what the person on the other end of the line had to say. "Mm hm. Mm hm. Yes sir, I will proceed with the berating — debriefing. Someone will be held accountable, sir. Harkness!"
"You have no authority to do such a thing," Sesshomaru growled at one of Rosario's threats.
"I beg to differ. If I have to punch you in the gut and carry you aboard, I will." Knuckles cracked in anticipation, Rosario geared her fists up for a fight.
He glared down at the woman who barely came up to his shoulder. "You are no match for me, human."
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
A bony fist hit a solid wall of muscle, and despite the crash of luxury airplane seats, tables and the suitcase Liu abandoned in the aisle that suffered damage from Sesshomaru flying into the window opposite the doorway, the daiyokai landed gracefully on his feet. Before he could make his escape, Rosario kicked the staircase away and pulled the door shut. While he could have easily torn open the door again with his claws, or any part of this human contraption, he chose to maintain his last shreds of dignity, get to his feet and find a better place to sit. Of course, as soon as he did so, his head slammed right into the ceiling with a resounding thud.
"I'll be there, Mom," Liu said as assuredly as he could. "I just don't know how long I can stay. My boss has us working a really difficult case right now. No, Mom, don't call Jenny. I can handle this on my own. I'll talk to her, I promise. She's just a little preoccupied at the moment."
"Preoccupied, my arse," Michaelis muttered, storming up to the meditating Jenny. "Do you realize what your incompetence just cost me? El Comedor del Hombre, the fourth most wanted man in the country, the man who built one of the biggest cocaine empires in the last decade, is lost in the wind. And now the Mexican government wants answers as to not only his location, but how their information on him was leaked to an outside agent. It will take years to corner him again. In the meantime, he's probably going to slaughter another 106 people — you did realize he's responsible for the executions of 106 people, right? Are you just going to sit there and pretend like there won't be any consequences?"
Grumbling for his own reasons, Sesshomaru found a place on the floor at the front of the plane near Jenny to sit with his back against the wall. "Silence, human. Your voice grates on my ears."
"What was that, Pretty Boy?"
The intercom crackled to life. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are just about ready for takeoff. Please fasten your seatbelts and put all electronic devices into Airplane Mode."
Liu said his farewells to his family and turned off his phone. "We got a flight plan?" he asked Michaelis.
"I told the pilot to head to New York City. If Jenny bothers to wake up from her trance and tell me otherwise, then we'll go somewhere else." He took a seat and buckled himself in. "Which should be soon since we're supposed to be taking off."
"Dude," Rosario scoffed as she took her own seat. "She's not getting up for something like that. Once she's in the zone, she's out."
Sesshomaru similarly stayed on the floor, continuing to glower at the peaceful looking detective. Fortunately the few flight attendants on board recognized the futility of urging them to move and let them be. The plane rumbled as the jet engines switched on and the pilots taxied down the runway. Michaelis' position in whatever government operation he was currently a part of had the benefit of priority on the tarmac.
"Good God, this is such a mess," Michaelis groaned. "I need answers now. Can she even hear us? When's she going to wake up?"
"She's not deaf," Liu said. "So if you've ever wanted to not argue with her, now's your chance." He leaned forward so Jenny could hear him over the roar of the plane taking off into the air. "I was wondering if I could take some time off work. Mom said that Nana's funeral is going to be sometime next week. But the thing about traditional Tongan funerals is that they're pretty big affairs. The whole family is going to get together and we'll cook for about a week. I'd really like to be able to support my family through the whole process, but if I can only go for the funeral itself, I'd understand. Theda's kind of a big deal and we have to save the world and all that. I know you missed your sister's funeral, but —"
"Hold up, what?" Rosario turned in her seat to face her boss. "First off, I'm a little upset that I'm only finding out now about your sister. But you skipped her funeral? What kind of sister does that?"
"I'm sure she has her reasons."
"I know I've heard of Jackie before," Rosario continued. "Something about the whole thing sounds incredibly fishy, especially since you never talk about her. I thought you trusted us enough to tell us about your parents. But why would knowing about your sister be so awful?"
Ribbit!
The airplane occupants blinked, and a little green frog perched on Jenny's knees blinked back. Then it leaped toward Sesshomaru, who immediately caught it between this claws.
"Ew, no! Not in here!" Rosario cried.
"Where, then, do you suggest I put it?" When she couldn't come up with a solution in time, his mouth opened wide, showing off two rows of perfectly straight, sharp gleaming teeth, and he swallowed the frog whole.
Shuddering again, she closed her eyes. "Isn't she supposed to sneeze for that to happen?"
Normally, yes. But listening to the prattling of the humans, sitting in a confined space and knowing the flight had many hours ahead, and still smarting from the indignity of Rosario actually punching him hard enough to throw him into the airplane, Sesshomaru's youki had grown considerably with the irritation he felt under his skin. Jenny might not have known what she felt creeping like ice water around her body, but her curse certainly did and reacted accordingly. At least, this is what she concluded after careful thought, taking the attitudes of everyone around her into consideration.
Kukulkan needed to find something. Theda killed him. Did Kukulkan find the mysterious it?
Theda hates Sesshomaru for killing Izanami and defeating Daiichi. Theda does not get vengeance. Why is Izanami's death so important? Is it actually important?
Sesshomaru growled and his youki flared again. Jenny's nose tickled. Another frog popped out of the air. Sesshomaru had another snack. Rosario complained about the sight and questioned Jenny's ability to think clearly when facing the foe that essentially killed her sister. Michaelis questioned Jenny's purported talents, period. Liu begged again for time off, promising to look for legendary creatures on Tonga.
Hm. Now there was a thought.
The handful of puzzle pieces in her hand with no reference picture might not fit together quite right, but all she needed were more pieces. Edge pieces.
Jenny finally opened her eyes. The occupants of the airplane quieted as she slowly stood up and gazed upon each of them in turn. Eventually, she settled an icy stare on Michaelis.
"El Comedor del Hombre has been killing his own business for months and taking the funds to finance hunting trips around the world ever since his mother died. That's how he met Theda in the first place. He hasn't gained a conscience; he's suffering from a mid-life crisis and depression. He'll burn himself out in a few months, but not before he's shot a few more vision serpents, jaguar gods and chupacabras. His cartel is done and gone in all but name and reputation only now that his main stronghold was destroyed in a fight between a particularly powerful inu daiyokai and a feathered serpent god by the name of Kukulkan. No cartel war required. No evidence of involvement from any other country. You're welcome."
She next turned to Rosario. "Jackie went missing in the spring of 2012. She just … didn't come home from school one day. We looked everywhere and found nothing. We called the police. You were one of the officers that helped investigate her disappearance. Y'all found nothing. Jackie came home a few weeks later with gaps in her memory and bulletproof armor. You suffered a head injury soon after that and most of those years on the force became a blur. And every time you find out I have a sister, you get pissed at me for some reason and I have to relive the worst periods of my life so that you can remember that case for two days, feel somewhat guilty about not finding her, then forget right after that. I'm tired of doing that over and over. So forgive me for not talking about Jackie.
"Liu." He lowered his head in preparation for her pronouncement. "I may or may not have deliberately missed my own sister's funeral, but that does not make me a cold hearted ice queen. For the love of all that is good and holy in this world, go to your grandmother's funeral."
Light returned to his eyes and his head lifted. "When you say funeral —"
"All of it. The whole week. And bring me back some otai and your mother's faikakai topai." Sesshomaru came last on her list for reasons. Just for him, she switched to Japanese partly to protect his privacy, and also partly because Michaelis had burning ears. "In order to understand Theda better, we need to have a much more detailed discussion about Izanami and Daiichi. We can talk in private so you don't have these two gossiping up a storm," she said, pointing a thumb toward Liu and Rosario, "but we will talk. I also want you to understand that I know you were a powerful ruler and general, but you work for me now. When I give you an order, you follow it. Lose control again and I will 'forget' where Ketsugō-kiba is."
Sesshomaru shot to his feet, narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the ceiling again, and towered over her with an icy glare that rivaled hers. "You gave me your word —"
"You're the one breaking our agreement. I am perfectly within my rights to withhold the sword."
"You dare to use Ketsugō-kiba to enslave this Sesshomaru?"
"It's a contract. A ridiculously short contract, mind you. Six months for the only weapon I know of that could possibly give us humans a defense against the great Lord Sesshomaru should he ever decide to start slaughtering humans. And your transformation in the compound just goes to show how lethal you are and how much of a risk I am taking in teaching you how to live in this world. I think I can expect a more controlled performance from you from here on out in return for that, correct?"
The rumbling growl in his throat rivaled that of the plane engines and turbulence. The insolence at the idea that he couldn't control himself! Even when fighting Kukulkan, he had control and he alone made the decision to kill the feathered serpent. After nearly 500 years of pacifism, his daiyokai instincts craved, desired, demanded that he spill the blood of a creature whose strength proved a challenge to defeat. But while Sesshomaru had the presence of mind to understand his own base impulses and force them to wait patiently for just a little while longer, Kukulkan did not. The harder Sesshomaru fought to contain the feathered serpent, the more insatiable the creature's bloodlust became. The serpent would not, could not, be imprisoned without drinking all of the daiyokai's blood, followed immediately by every last human in the country. To contain Kukulkan, the god had to be executed. And he did so.
He half told himself that he disobeyed the detective's direct orders screaming in his ear because his pride demanded such. The only one capable of making a decision as to how to handle the feathered serpent should have been him, not Jenny. He had the experience, the skills, the strength. The Harkness woman's plan would only lead to a humiliating defeat — one he could scarcely afford. He refused to lose what little he had gained in this new life to the direction of someone too arrogant to see where she had no grasp on the situation and too blinded by a hunt.
But then he had a higher order of directives to follow. He had to keep this infuriating woman alive at all costs in order to obtain the location of Ketsugō-kiba. Even if it meant losing a valuable lead. By this reasoning, he had done his job correctly.
"I should be able to expect the same from you, woman," he replied with nary a hint of justified insubordination. But the ice in his eyes told of his opinion of her authority.
She flinched. Sesshomaru didn't actually expect her to physically react, but surprise widened her eyes and dropped open her mouth just a bit. "Excuse me?"
"I do not repeat myself."
Examining every twitch of his features to determine his thoughts, Jenny's eyes stared deep into his very nature. "You think I can't lead this team." He opened his mouth to reply, but she shut him up first. "It surprises me how quickly you forget that you lost your army and kingdom to Daiichi under your leadership."
He blinked. Two, three times. Then he bowed his head slightly, as much of an apology as he could make.
"I'm glad we've come to an agreement," she said, her tone biting. "And put your youki away. I've done enough research to know that you're the one causing my curse flare-ups."
Michaelis, Liu and Rosario gaped at Jenny as she turned back to address the whole group. Liu unconsciously grabbed Rosario's hand, unsure if their boss's anger had been sated yet. "I don't want to die," he squeaked.
"Michaelis, see if we can make a pit stop somewhere for Liu to get off and head to Tonga," Jenny ordered. She let the rat-faced man roll his eyes and slink off to the pilot's cabin to inform them of the change in plans as well as arrange for a large money transfer to whoever could authorize such a change in flight plans.
"Thank you so much, boss."
She waved off his unnecessary gratitude. "Theda is using Izanami as a red herring, a distraction from her true goals. If she was actually angry about Izanami dying, she would have tried to kill you months ago, Sesshomaru. She's looking for something that has world-destroying power, and I have no doubt she wants to use it. She'll keep us distracted, focused on stopping her alone while raising up more creatures that can look for this mysterious MacGuffin."
Rosario raised her hand. "Question. MacGuffin? I ask for the benefit of those of us that might not have been born in the last century."
"It's a movie trope," Liu explained. "Alfred Hitchcock coined the term for some object that everyone wants that moves the plot along."
"She cannot be allowed to find the MacGuffin before we do," Jenny continued. "But before we start fighting with Theda's army, we need to know more about her, and that means talking to those who know the earliest versions of Theda."
Once again, Rosario had a question and raised her hand. "Wouldn't anybody fitting that description be dead already? Apart from us?"
"If they're human. But I know someone who is considerably older. And kind of a perv."
A frown broke through Sesshomaru's icy composure, which Jenny did not miss. "You said you would have nothing more to do with Coyote."
"I'm pretty sure all I said was I wouldn't hire him. Rosario, your job is to arrange for Sesshomaru and me to meet with him."
Her face went white. "What? Why me?"
"Because he visits you at least once a week ever since we released him into the Adirondacks. Washing your jacket to get rid of his scent so Sesshomaru wouldn't notice was a good move, but animal hair sticks like no other and you always forget..." Lifting up the collar of her favorite denim jacket, she pulled out a two inch long brown strand of fur. "... to check the crevices."
Liu smacked her arm in irritation. "You're supposed to tell me when you get a stalker!""
"He's not a stalker. He just likes to hang around me and tell me funny stories," she said with a guilty shrug. "And he's kind of ... anthropomorphized."
Rolling her eyes, Jenny headed for one of the luxury reclining seats. "In any case, I'm taking a nap. Wake me up when we get back to New York."