Page 75 of Cherry Moon

HONEYMOON

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

AKIRA

ONE WEEK LATER

Idrove my shiny new katanas into the chicken blob, a pointy double whammy to make it scream. I proper skewered it, removing all chances of survival.

The motherfucker tried the Mama Rita thing again.

“Haven’t you heard?” I growled, pressing my face closer to its struggling body. “Everything’s changing.”

“Taker… Taker…”

“So change the record.”

“Taker…”

“Taker got you good.” I withdrew my blades.

The katanas were a wedding gift from Uncle Ryoka, forged before he put down his tools for good. Not magical, but defo deadly enough to slice a blobby poultry prick to pieces.

G scored a gorgeous copy of The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien as his gift.

He was a good egg, that uncle of mine.

“Toodles,” I said, watching it die in a spray of Sakura.

Yep. The minions wanted me dead. As for their masters, there’d been no sign of the next member of The Eight showing up yet.

When they did, we’d know. Well, Zach would, and was under strict orders to contact me the moment the fucker pinged on his radar.

The SCU took out a chicken blob just outside our front gate, blowing a hole right through it with some wickedly powerful guns.

Sarah sent the SCU here, providing twenty-four-hour protection. But sneaky monsters did have ways of slipping through the defenses. Especially with anti-magic being wonky at the moment.

Whatever. I’d gladly kick arse, these new katanas a nice boost for my fighting spirit.

I liked to play my part, embracing it now.

“Wankers,” I grumbled.

The closest creatures these things resembled was the onnen no niwatori. While the OG versions were vengeful, rooster-human hybrid thingies, these were vengeful but not even close to human.

Hmmm.

Stupid things, interrupting me basking in marital bliss on my honeymoon.

It’d been seven days since our wedding, G’s honeymoon plan implemented and going amazing.

We’d turned the cottage into our own private resort. Sandbox in the central garden, along with a large paddling pool. There were tents for us to camp out in, fairy lights, gorgeous weather, plenty of sex, smooches, and a whole lot of love.

I baked cupcakes with cocktail-themed icing and fillings—the piña colada ones particularly yummy. Oh, and G finally got to try my pistachio beauties—a ten out of ten for those.

Best honeymoon ever.

G appeared behind me. “What happened?”