32

Integra coughed and wiped the water from her eyes. As she put her glasses back on, she wondered if what she was about to see would be worth getting soaking wet for. She hated getting wet and if this turned out to be a waste of time, there was no telling what she might do. She could see the others silhouetted in the dim light that filtered through the rushing water behind them. It was too dark to see much else until Amon reached into his pocket and pulled out a small flashlight. He swiped the narrow beam back and forth across the cave. It was a much bigger space than Integra had expected. It was easy to imagine a tribe of wolf demons living here. The craggy rock walls and the thick layer of dust on the floor gave it a foreboding atmosphere. And it wasn't just the look of the place that caught Integra's attention. Now that she was more focused, certain smells were beginning to register in her brain. Even after centuries of being empty, the scent of living creatures still clung to the rocks and floated in the air. There was one particular smell, stronger than the others, that made her take notice.

She remembered being a little girl back home, playing some silly game with Walter. She had hid from him in a closet where her father hung old clothes. She had tried to squeeze into the very back of the small space and dislodged a big thick coat. When it fell on top of her, she was surrounded by a strange musty-sweet scent. Walter had heard the coat fall and he found her straight away. He told her that the coat had been given to her father as a gift from a Romanian nobleman whose life he'd saved before she was born. He also said it was very valuable because it was lined with wolf fur. This cave smelled almost the same as that coat.

"The scent of wolves," Amon said, as if he was reading Integra's mind.

"Didn't that kid we met earlier smell a little like this too?" Nagira asked.

"A little bit," Robin replied.

Robin was the first to move forward again and everyone else followed her. The cave was about fifty meters deep. When they reached the back, the flashlight beam fell on a carved stone marker just like the one in the park back in Tokyo.

"It looks like we're still on the right track," Nagira said.

"One more checkpoint and then those swords will be in our hands," Integra said.

33

"And you're certain that they went to Akagi Village?" Father Maxwell asked, his voice sounding tense over the long distance connection.

"Aye," Paladin Anderson replied. He wasn't exactly sure why Maxwell was asking for his report now. Especially since the mission wasn't going well. He would rather have waited until he'd had a chance to turn things around. But what choice did he have now?

"It seems we've underestimated our opponents," Father Maxwell said. "We must redouble our efforts to make this mission a success."

Anderson scowled for a moment. Redouble who's efforts? Certainly not Maxwell's. Since when had he put in any effort at all? But he couldn't say that out loud.

"Aye," he said. "Shouldna' be too hard to track 'em down. We know where they're headin'."

"Indeed," Father Maxwell returned. "They must not acquire those weapons. Such power is better off staying buried forever. Don't fail again."

The line went dead and Anderson hung up. A glance at the hotel alarm clock told him it was time to go down to the restaurant for dinner. He winced as he put his hands on the bedspread to push himself to his feet. The burns he'd received at the train station that morning were taking longer to heal than he'd expected. He looked at his palms and noticed the pattern of the burns again. The design on the hilt of his blessed knife was still clearly visible in the red patches of skin. Silently, he cursed the witch who had done this to him. That monster girl would pay.

Story Notes:

"...musty-sweet scent..." - It was discovered some time ago that smell is the strongest sense tied to memory. (That's right, those Ol' Spice ads weren't just BS.) That means that you're more likely to remember something you smelled as a child than something you saw or heard. Ironic, considering that our sense of smell is weak compared to other animals.

"Didn't that kid..." - Those who have been reading the HD series all along really don't need a note here. But for new people, I'm basically saying that the Takahashi brothers are wolf demons. And really, what better place is there for Kouga's boys to surface than in the street racing world.