Chapter 18.

          There comes a time in every woman's life where she must pause and ask herself 'Is this strange?' If strange was wearing a kimono while pointing a gun at a weremonkey you've just shot while werefoxes tried to bend steel bars with their bare hands to free a wereleopard is strange, then yes, this would be one of those times.

          That settled, back to business. The monkeys were agitated, hovering just out of reach as the werefoxes and one werewolf grabbed the bars at one end of the cage, and set to work pulling. Shape shifters are like Superman when it comes to strength. Well, just about. They can bench press a small car, if that counts.

          I switched my gaze from the monkey beneath my foot to the others as I heard the whine of metal protesting the pressure being exerted on it. He was mumbling things to me, but thankfully I didn't understand any of it. I doubted it was compliments on my outfit. I pressed my foot harder against his chest, but didn't lean any closer. Doing so would just be asking for him to grab my gun. He quieted and I risked adjusting my grip on the Browning. It's a big gun, and does get heavy after a while.

          The metal screeched and screamed to my right, but I didn't move my gaze. That was a serious mistake some people made. And often, it was their last.

          "Anita, we got it," Jason's voice called. "Zane's out."

          I eased off the monkey quickly, backing up and away from him, keeping the Browning pointed at him. He pushed up on his hands to sit up, watching me. I spared a glance to look at Zane, seeing him standing on unsteady legs, licking his lips.

          "You okay, Zane?" I asked. I got a rumble in response.

          "Good. Where's the others?"

          Kannon translated, and the monkeys looked back behind them.

          "They're leading the way. And they better move nice and slow," I said. Kannon translated, and the monkeys started to turn and walk further back down the valley. The one I'd shot got back to his feet and joined the others, trying to hide amongst them, probably hoping I didn't shoot him a second time.

          A couple took their time backing up, and Zane jumped forward, fangs bared as he screamed at them, and they quickly joined the rest. What's a little animosity between torturer and victim? I relaxed my hold on the gun as I walked forward, holding it in my right hand only, clenching and unclenching my hands before running a hand over the smooth fur of Zane's head. He leaned into the touch, and a brief throaty purr started up.

          Iga spoke quietly and I glanced to Kannon as he translated to murmurs of what sounded like agreement from the others.

          "He acknowledges you're a dominant, Anita. And apparently, so has this crowd."

          "Good. As soon as all of them acknowledge it, we can all get along." My voice was calm; inside I was calm. Inside I was also pissed. Calm and pissed is fine. I will be calmly pissed. I will kick ass with a smile. This must be what enlightenment is like.

          The monkeys soon mingled with the next group. This one turned out to be around the blonde assassin. About five females and two males composed the worshipping group. I stopped where I was, freezing in place. I heard a small intake of breath behind me from one of the werefoxes.

          It was one of those things you wanted to look away from. Because common decency tells you to. But I couldn't look away from it this time. Everyone was staring at me. Waiting to see what I would do.

          "Jason," I breathed. "Get her off of him."

          Youji was wrapped in the embraces of all the monkeys, all having at least half of their bodies showing through their rumpled kimonos or whatever you call man's clothing. A female was rapidly moving on top of him, her kimono folding down about her waist, her breasts jiggling with her movements. Youji was moaning what seemed to be weak protests, and his voice sounded exhausted. Monkey and assassin porn was not something I had come to Japan to see.

          Jason moved forward quickly and the females hissed at him, before Zane bound into the orgy, bringing shrieks from female throats and snarls from the couple males ones as he clawed at the ones that took too long to escape. Jason grabbed the female on top of Youji just as Zane had joined him, and he yanked her off the naked assassin by the upper arms, shoving her aside. She stumbled and fell to the sandy dirt, turning a glare on Jason.

          Jason stood over the blonde assassin, who was trying to curl up on the fancy carpet spread out that the orgy had been sitting on. I pointed the Browning at the woman who had been on Youji, and she refocused her gaze on me. Jason pulled off the yellow vest thing he wore and knelt down next to Youji, covering him with it, and trying to pull him up to get it onto him.

          "Back off," I snarled at the female as she got to her feet, breasts flopping about, and I wondered if she felt any embarrassment at all. Probably not.

          "Kannon, tell them to put their clothes on."

          Kannon obeyed, and a few of the females pulled their kimonos up. The others just glared at me, making no attempts at modesty.

          Jason managed to get Youji up, and his arms into the sleeve holes of the vest thing, now buttoning up the front so the man wasn't exposed. Youji didn't seem to want to look at anyone, just holding onto Jason's shoulders and hiding his face behind a curtain of wavy, blonde hair. He was trembling, fingers curling into the flesh under his hands as his head leaned forward to hover over Jason's left shoulder, as if Jason were acting as some sort of anchor, a focus for him to pull himself back together.

          Damn them. This was just what I was afraid of.

          "Jason, check him for scratches and bites."

          Most lycanthropes are only contagious in animal form, but hey, foxes bred here, so maybe the other rules were different too. For Youji to turn into a monkey on the nights of the full moon because I couldn't protect him...

          "They can't spread it in human form," Kannon reassured me.

          "And he's got human teeth marks on his neck and shoulders," Jason told me, wrapping an arm around Youji's waist to help him stay standing up.

          One less thing off my mind. But someone was going to pay for this. And I don't take plastic.

          "Take us to the others!" I snapped at the crowd. Kannon echoed me, but the crowd didn't move. All right, they wanted to play it tough, I was in the mood to play. I sighted in on the female that been on Youji and shot her in the left shoulder. She screamed, flailing backwards and would have fallen if the monkeys behind her hadn't caught her. One male that was holding her shoulders leaned forward to bury his face in the wound, and she screamed at him, trying to shove him away. He tried to hang on, and she thrashed against him, trying to turn about to shove at his chest with her hands. She finally shoved her fingers into his eyes and he screamed, backing away from her in a rush, stumbling into the monkeys behind him and falling on his butt, holding his face. The female looked back to me and licked the fluids off her fingers, making it painfully clear she'd punctured his eyeballs.

          The wound in her shoulder was already healing as she glared back at me through her eyelashes, her hair falling forward about her face in wisps. Small, pink tongue lapping across her fingers like licking up honey.

          "The others!" I repeated before I got sick. Now the crowd began to move, slowly, trickling away till the crowd thinned, the female I'd shot kept staring at me as she backed off with the rest of them. Zane paced in front of me, mostly healed up now, and one pissed kitty.

          We followed the crowd until we came upon the next hurdle. It turned out to be Cherry. Several monkeys were still blocking my full view of her. I knew it wasn't due to them not knowing what I wanted them to do. I still had my gun pointed at them. They were just testing me every inch of the way.

          I was low on patience. "Zane."

          Zane didn't need to ask. He screamed, and a few more backed off. Zane scooted forward, making a warning swipe with a paw, and yet more backed off. I could hear the muffled sounds of Cherry crying, and lost all patience.

          I sighted in on a male blocking my view and gut shot him, before turning to shoot a female in front of me in the chest. Both dropped, a wail breaking from one, and Zane screamed again. Kaji was suddenly to my left, having grabbed a dropped spear from back when we had saved Zane, and stalking forward with the spear, stabbing at those that were too close. Kuroda joined her, swinging a slender chain weighted at one end, swinging it at heads threateningly.

          A whoop went up then and I immediately knew I wanted more bullets.
         
          The monkeys in the front of the group surged forward, and I shot the one nearest me, a half-clothed male, hitting him in the chest and knocking him off his feet, tripping a few of the others moving forward behind him. Kaji speared a female coming after her between the breasts, and the weight of Kuroda's chain began to impact on flesh.

          Strong fingers suddenly closed on my left arm, hard enough to make the bones grind together, making my teeth clench. I shoved the barrel of the Browning against the chest of the man who'd grabbed me, and pulled the trigger. I felt splatters on my skin like drizzling rain as the man fell backwards, landing hard on his side in the dirt, curling up.

          Zane screamed, tearing at the face of a female as she screamed back, high pitched and angry. He reared up on his hind legs, like a kitten batting at a dangling toy as his claws carved deep, crimson furrows across the face and upper chest of the female. One of her hands grabbed for his throat as her other slammed into the side of his head repeatedly.

          Jason was snarling at a short, stout male, hands apart and his fingers curled as if they were the deadly armed, werewolf paws already. He was acting as a shield for Youji, who was behind him, backing away from the fight. Youji was unarmed, barely clothed, and I hardly blamed him. Jason was just a sweet guy like that, when he wasn't trying to get into your pants or vice versa.

          Kannon was on the ground, wrestling with another male in the dirt, rolling over and over as other monkeys about them kicked at the rolling duo, striking the monkey as much as they were hitting Kannon.

          I felt the rushing of air and looked up in time to see a blur of motion headed my way. All air was knocked from my lungs as I was suddenly hit from the side in a flying tackle, landing on my left side with my left arm pinned under me, my attacker kneeling over me. I rolled somewhat onto my back and had a split second to recognize the face of the female I'd shot. The one who had gouged out the eyes of the male. Her small teeth were bared in a snarl, her delicate face twisted into a mask of hate as her fingers closed about my throat.

          I choked, feeling her thumbs press down on my windpipe, and shoved the barrel of the Browning under her chin, knowing she could very well puncture my windpipe any given moment with those slender, yet hard and claw-like fingers. No time to wrestle with her. I pulled the trigger, and the back of her head burst open like a ripe, rotten fruit falling to the ground, flying threads of blood and other, heavier things coloring the air behind her. She collapsed on top of me, a limp, heavy weight to pin me further. I rolled fully onto my back, knocking her off me and to the side as I raised the gun and pointed it at the monkeys, ready for the next threat.

          I was trying to mentally count how many bullets I had used when I realized someone was chanting. Iga stood behind me, his hands clasped together, fingertips touching with palms apart, his beads between his fingers. His head was bowed, but his eyes open and looking forward at the brawl.

          His chanting seemed painfully loud for a few moments, and I looked back to see that the fight had stopped. All of the monkeys seemed frozen. After looking at a few faces, I realized they were staring at the female sprawled out next to me. I got to my feet as Iga chanted, brushing dirt off my dress and smearing my hands with the blood now soaking into the cloth. I'd have to make sure I paid for the dry cleaning if this dress even made it out of this intact.

          The woman was laying on her back by my feet, arms askew, jet hair spilled almost artfully out around her head. The small, dark spot under her chin leaked shining trails in the firelight, the dirt around her neck darkened as the hungry ground drank greedily. Her dark eyes stared blankly up towards the night sky. She looked like a broken doll, tossed aside by some careless child. I didn't feel remorse. I didn't feel horrified. I just felt sad.

          The monkeys were staring at the dead woman, Iga, and me in turn. As if deciding who were they more intimidated by. I sure hoped it was me, to be outdone by a chanting monk or a corpse was something I wouldn't live down.

          The members of the home team waited, weapons at the ready, catching their breaths. None of the other monkeys had been injured beyond repair. They stood there and bled as they kept watching us. Killing a couple shape shifters was always a great way to get their attention. I just hated going that route. My beef was with the Monkey King, and this woman had paid the price. Of course, she'd have probably killed me if I'd let her.

          I stepped forward and the monkeys backed off, as if I had an invisible forcefield that extended several feet from me and had shoved them away from me. Iga followed behind me, still chanting, a steady rumbling noise. I could see Cherry clearly now.

          Her wrists had been tied to wooden posts on either side of her with chains, and though she still had a shirt on, it only served to cover her back, having been ripped open down the front. She had no pants on, kneeling in the dirt. Her pale head hung low, her frame shaking as it was racked by sobs.

          "Kaji!" I called, getting her attention from watching the monkeys. Rape victims were not a rare occurrence lately that I've run across, and Cherry would not want another male near her. Just as I'm sure Youji would prefer not to be touched by a female at the moment.

          "Cherry?" I squatted down on one knee before her, reaching out to touch the pale hair on that hanging head as she sobbed. She lifted her head and looked at me with tears running down her cheeks, and pulled away from me.

          "Anita-san?" Kaji came up beside me.

          "Can you undo these?" I pointed at the chains. It was enough for her to understand. The chains had simply been wrapped and knotted around the posts, which Kaji managed to open easily. I pulled Cherry to me and she wrapped her arms around my waist, shaking and still sobbing into my shoulder.

          "I can't take anymore," she whimpered into my neck.

          "You don't have to," I promised her. I hate it when people cry. Tears get to me. Real tears, that is. It gets to the point where I'll promise them anything, anything they could want just to please, please stop hurting so badly.

          I turned my glare on the monkeys, getting bland stares back. If they had hurt Nathaniel, so help me God. Nathaniel was everyone's prey. He had no ability to take care of himself. And he'd already been gutted and raped several times because of it. He's had to heal so many times, there had to be a point where he just couldn't heal anymore.

          The Monkey King was going to have to pay for what he'd done. For hurting my people, for letting me kill one of his. Where's Buddha when you need him?