its open mouth, and felt cold rage fill me. The rats were infected. That meant we only had days before the first humans would succumb. Rats scurried everywhere, taking deadly bacillus with them. They filled up with it and when they bit, they filled you up with it, little living hypodermics filled with plague.
I sent Kirill into the nearest mom and pop grocery store to get Ziploc baggies. When he returned, I carefully picked up the rat with a baggie covered hand, which I was able to pull over and enclose the dead thing in. I couldn’t just leave it there for some child to find. So we walked down to the Police station and turned it in.
I told them I was a veterinarian and I saw this animal die in a suspicious manner. I recommended they send the body away for testing and told them where it was found. At first they didn’t even want to humor me but after I pointed out the blood leaking from the rodents mouth and how it appeared similar to rats found with the plague, they perked up a bit.
I hoped they’d find some way to warn all those people and possibly contain the spread of the disease but I had a feeling things were about to get bad. I had visions of Chinatown being evacuated and pest control people in hazard suits cleaning house. Just please, please don't let them try to set anything on fire again.
A car pulled around the corner slowly, tinted windows way too dark and the windshield practically impossible to see through. It seemed to pause at it passed me, something, with fangs most likely, staring at me from behind the darkened glass. I stared back, getting really annoyed with the stalking vampires bit.
“ Is zat vampire car,” Kirill followed the direction of my gaze.
“ I believe it is,” I narrowed my eyes at its retreat.
“ I zought Blue vas on your side now.”
“ Yeah,” I chewed at my lip, “so did I. I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt this time though. I'm not going to make the mistake of assuming anything about him ever again.”
“ Zis is vise,” he nodded.
Stalking vampires would have to wait. What the hell was I going to do about Xi Wangmu? How could I fight an enemy who wouldn’t face me? She was Black Death alright, creeping in the shadows, hiding from the light. She may not even be in Chinatown anymore. She could have just planted her disease and ran away.
No, deep down I knew she’d stay… to watch.
“ Where are you, you evil, ugly bitch?” I called out under my breath. “Xi Wangmu, I know you’re out here. You coward, hiding and spreading disease through vermin. You’re scum, something I’d wipe off my shoes.”
“ I am a goddess ,” she appeared before me, hair in a tight braid, body wrapped in loose black satin, “one of the first for the Chinese actually. I am life and I am death. What I am not, is scum.”
Well shit, why hadn’t I just tried insulting her earlier? It would have saved me a lot of time.
I casually wandered down a deserted alley, drawing her away from innocent passer-bys. She followed with graceful steps, picking her way through the puddles and filth. Her hands started to rise and I fumbled in my pocket with the syringe case.
“ You kill your own people,” I grimaced as the case refused to open. “There is no lower scum in my book.”
“ I restore balance. What I do is necessary,” she waved her darkening fingertips delicately. “My people know this. Yin and yang, balance, flow, it’s all a part of life. I bring a cleansing, a rebirth, and my people will be strengthened by it. If you were a true goddess, you would understand.”
“ Your people still haven’t recovered from your last cleansing,” I snarled, partly in frustration with the syringe. “If you paid any positive attention to them, you’d know that the Chinese population in Hawaii has never improved and is the lowest it’s ever been. The real reason you're here, is to collect the
I sent Kirill into the nearest mom and pop grocery store to get Ziploc baggies. When he returned, I carefully picked up the rat with a baggie covered hand, which I was able to pull over and enclose the dead thing in. I couldn’t just leave it there for some child to find. So we walked down to the Police station and turned it in.
I told them I was a veterinarian and I saw this animal die in a suspicious manner. I recommended they send the body away for testing and told them where it was found. At first they didn’t even want to humor me but after I pointed out the blood leaking from the rodents mouth and how it appeared similar to rats found with the plague, they perked up a bit.
I hoped they’d find some way to warn all those people and possibly contain the spread of the disease but I had a feeling things were about to get bad. I had visions of Chinatown being evacuated and pest control people in hazard suits cleaning house. Just please, please don't let them try to set anything on fire again.
A car pulled around the corner slowly, tinted windows way too dark and the windshield practically impossible to see through. It seemed to pause at it passed me, something, with fangs most likely, staring at me from behind the darkened glass. I stared back, getting really annoyed with the stalking vampires bit.
“ Is zat vampire car,” Kirill followed the direction of my gaze.
“ I believe it is,” I narrowed my eyes at its retreat.
“ I zought Blue vas on your side now.”
“ Yeah,” I chewed at my lip, “so did I. I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt this time though. I'm not going to make the mistake of assuming anything about him ever again.”
“ Zis is vise,” he nodded.
Stalking vampires would have to wait. What the hell was I going to do about Xi Wangmu? How could I fight an enemy who wouldn’t face me? She was Black Death alright, creeping in the shadows, hiding from the light. She may not even be in Chinatown anymore. She could have just planted her disease and ran away.
No, deep down I knew she’d stay… to watch.
“ Where are you, you evil, ugly bitch?” I called out under my breath. “Xi Wangmu, I know you’re out here. You coward, hiding and spreading disease through vermin. You’re scum, something I’d wipe off my shoes.”
“ I am a goddess ,” she appeared before me, hair in a tight braid, body wrapped in loose black satin, “one of the first for the Chinese actually. I am life and I am death. What I am not, is scum.”
Well shit, why hadn’t I just tried insulting her earlier? It would have saved me a lot of time.
I casually wandered down a deserted alley, drawing her away from innocent passer-bys. She followed with graceful steps, picking her way through the puddles and filth. Her hands started to rise and I fumbled in my pocket with the syringe case.
“ You kill your own people,” I grimaced as the case refused to open. “There is no lower scum in my book.”
“ I restore balance. What I do is necessary,” she waved her darkening fingertips delicately. “My people know this. Yin and yang, balance, flow, it’s all a part of life. I bring a cleansing, a rebirth, and my people will be strengthened by it. If you were a true goddess, you would understand.”
“ Your people still haven’t recovered from your last cleansing,” I snarled, partly in frustration with the syringe. “If you paid any positive attention to them, you’d know that the Chinese population in Hawaii has never improved and is the lowest it’s ever been. The real reason you're here, is to collect the
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