Uetzcayotl

As I sit in front of my uncle and Tlapixqui as the mouse goes to prepare tea (I kid you not, freaking tea) I wonder just how I had gotten myself stuck in this situation. Since I was disorientated from seeing my uncle here with Tlapixqui, I ended up nodding like a buffoon when the mouse suggested we should talk things out in her apartment.

At my uncle’s smirk, I thought for the thousandth time, Just how did I end up here, again?

“Because you’re a puppy who can’t even run away right,” chimed in Uncle Quetzalcoatl.

Annoyed I grunted, “Would you stop doing that and get out of my head?!”

He replied, “Then stop making it so easy.”

Before I could retort, Tlapixqui asked, “Lord Uetzcayotl, what brings you to Kapala? Were not you and the Lady Ishtar headed west to continue your search for Lord Gabriel?”

I answered, “We were, but we got a tip about some teenage fire warlock stirring trouble in Kapala at one of the bars Ish was performing at.”

“I see and Lord Uetzcayotl, what relationship do you have with the young miss over there?”

I replied, “I’m just her bodyguard” before realizing my mistake.

Tlapixqui’s wide black eyes, widened even more and he jumped up on the couch I was sitting on to seem more intimidating (he was only 125 centimeters tall) before going off on one of his tangents.

“Lord Uetz-cay-otl! You are the son of my master, the great and noble god Xolotl, but you dare shame your father by taking such a lowly job?! I reluctantly accepted it when it was a ruse with the Lady Ishtar, but from the looks of things, this is no ruse! Oh, Lord Uetzcayotl, how I have failed you and my great master Xolotl from my absence!...I have decided, from this moment forth, I shall not leave your side again and will properly guide you until you reach adulthood as I was instructed by my most powerful master, Xolotl!”

I’m just glad he’s talking in Nahuatl or I’d be even more screwed.

My uncle interjected, “Not so fast shortie, I still need you or did you forget just why we are here.”

Tlapixqui continued, “You villain! You dare to separate me from my duties granted to me by your greater and more honourable brother! I-”

Before he could continue, my uncle sent a thunderbolt straight at Tlapixqui, effectively shutting him up while frying his shoulder length silver hair and small blue body.

Calmly, Quetzalcoatl said, “Now that we are done with that nonsense and it seems that by you just being here, you’ll be involved since that-” he pointed at the slowly recovering Tlapixqui “-won’t move a meter from your side, you’re going to shut up, listen, and do what I tell you to.”

As I was about to retort, my uncle gave me the glare that he normally only reserved for me when he was training me while saying, “Understand?”

Unfortunately, since he was the one who taught me how to fight, he knew all my moves and tactics so if I were to try to fight him, I’d only get beaten in the process. I didn’t think he would harm a young woman, but I also didn’t think it would look good to get beaten in front of my employer’s daughter, who didn’t even want me guarding her. For all these reasons, I decided to listen to what my uncle would say.

                                                                      ***

It started about a couple weeks ago. I was wandering around Earth, like I normally do when I noticed how quiet things had gotten lately. I hadn’t heard of anything new from Tezcatlipoca which was odd since he liked to normally stir something up, if for nothing else then just to piss me off.

I nodded at this.

So I thought it would be good to check out things to make sure it wasn’t some ploy. Knowing him, he would have headed for Kapala because he always was into big flashy appearances in front of powerfully corrupt beings. The first few days, I didn’t really notice anything odd and thought that even if he was somewhere on earth, he wasn’t in Kapala.

Thinking that I might as well enjoy my last day in Kapala-

I snickered at that before my uncle shot me a glare and he continued.

As I was saying, on my last night of Kapala, I headed to Club Amazon in this very sector to enjoy myself before I headed back to my wanderings to try to find Tezcatlipoca and figure out what he was up to. That night, there was an uneasy look in the eyes of the staff .

Feeling that something was off, I went up to the bartender and asked, “Is something going on tonight?”

He shot me a glare and with a false smile asked, “What would you care to drink, sir?”

Of course, from the shifter’s reaction, I knew something was up so pretending that I would go along with what he was trying to do, I ordered a drink and asked for directions to the bathroom so I could do some snooping without catching his attention.

While moving through the club, I saw some stairs so I proceeded to walk up them to see what they led to while hiding my presence. At the top, there was a hallway of doors and towards the end, I felt the presence of a Callisto warlock talking with the alpha of the panther pride that ran the club.

I interjected, “How did you know that he was the alpha and aren’t panthers solitary in nature?”

My uncle glared, but answered, “Shifters are different than normal animals so they don’t always follow the rules that their animal counterparts abide in. All shifters tend to band together with others of their animal counterparts and form some sort of hierarchy due to their human counterparts. As for the former, have you ever met an alpha before?”

“Well no, but-”

“Then shut up and listen, puppy.”

As I was saying, they were at the end of the hall behind a door so while still keeping my presence concealed, I went and stood by the door to listen in.

The warlock said, “Alpha Diaz, what do you think of my proposition?”

Alpha Diaz answered, “I think that for a noble, you’re kind of insane and if it's your type heading the inner city, then I really wonder at the future of this city.”

The warlock replied, “Now, Alpha Diaz, don’t you desire power?”

Alpha Diaz scoffed, “I have power. Callisto, I’m sure you’re aware of my reputation throughout not only Fang, but in the other districts, as well?”

“Yes, which is why I thought you would be more open to my proposition.”

“Read. My. Lips. I am not interested so go bug some warlocks and witches down in Magi if you are going to keep wasting my time.”

“Alph-”

Before the warlock could continue, flames burst out of the room and I jumped back to avoid the flying door. The alpha’s eyes glowed gold as he turned to the newcomer while growling, “What is the meaning of this?”

The newcomer, who was only a brat about your sister’s age replied, “Sorry, but my father sent me to make sure you wouldn’t make a deal you would regret and you looked like you needed the help.”

Alpha Diaz, with his eyes still glowing gold in anger yelled, “Alistar, keep to Magi and don’t involve in business that isn’t yours!”

The brat replied, “But this is my business. If you had payed any attention then you would have seen that if I didn’t barge in, you would have been dead, or at the very least enchanted.”

“What are you going on about?”

The kid laughed then pointed at me while saying, “I wasn’t aware that you had quests other than Callisto” so before I could hear and see more I got out of there and fast.

The next day, I asked Xolotl if I could borrow that for a little while since even though he’s annoying, he is a lot more knowledgeable about things on Earth than I am, but now I can’t get close enough to the alpha without him trying to kill me and I haven’t seen that brat since that night.

                                                                 ***  

When it seemed as if my uncle had finished with his explanation, I asked, “And the kid? The one about Ishtar’s age, how did they look?”

Offhandedly, my uncle replied, “Male. Kind of tall, but not as much as you. Fair skin. Crimson eyes. Crimson hair.”

“Gabriel.”  

Next Chapter: Chapter 7