Uniquely Normal

Silverfinger

I strongly suggest skimming through some past chapters if you read this book several months ago so you can have a refresher. Please read the author's note at the end too!

"Hold on one second," I said, Chris looking at me with a blank face. "You've seen these guys before?"

"Only once," he responded as Allison gently cleaned the wound on his head. "I was surrounded by them, with dead bodies laid out around me. And their eyes..."

Scott nodded. "They're eyes were glowing."

"There was something almost ritualistic about it. Like it was looking right into his soul." Chris continued.

"That's the same thing it did to me," Isaac said.

"That's what they did to everyone," Allison elaborated as she dipped a cotton pad into some rubbing alcohol.

"Not everyone," Scott shook his head. "They only came after the werewolves."

"And Lydia." Allison added.

"Anyone with a connection to the supernatural," Chris answered.

"Then who's the guy they went after in Japan?" I asked, looking at him intently.

"A kumicho," he answered. "A yakuza boss. It was my first gun deal. I was only 18 and it was supposed to be a simple exchange, except Gerard left out the minor detail of the buyers being yakuza. He wanted to see if I could adapt in the moment... testing my ability to improvise."

"Or your ability to survive," Allison said, listening to the story intently.

"The moment the sun went down, it was like they just materialized out of the shadows," Chris continued. "They had swords; not curved like katanas, but straight, black steel. Like ninjatos."

"What did they want?" Scott asked.

"To get to the kumicho." He answered. He looked down at his desk as if he was reminiscing the memory. "They cut down every living thing in their way."

Isaac lifted a hand and felt behind his ear. "Did they mark him like they did us?"

Chris shook his head. "Not exactly."

He continued to tell us how the kumicho was impales several times by their swords. He was lifted up as if they were sacrificing him, as he screamed out in pain. His blood spilled over a fountain in the middle of the garden they were in.

"What was he?" I asked.

"I don't know," Chris said. "But their might be someone who does."

I leaned forward in curiosity.

"There were a few others who survived that night, one was a man named Katashi." He said. "They called him 'Silverfinger' because of an unusual prosthetic. And it looked like he was getting ready to take them on all by himself. So I did the only thing I could think to do, and I got up and shot it."

"What about this Katashi guy?" I asked. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know where he went after that, but he's here. I've known for awhile Katashi was in the country, and I spent yesterday tracking him down."

Isaac pointed at the wound on the man's head. "Didn't look like he wanted to be found."

Chris shook his head. "Not particularly, no."

Scott leaned forward. "You think he knows what they are? Or what they want?"

"Maybe," Chris said.

"What if he doesn't want to talk?" I asked, referring back to the obvious injuries he had from when he tried the first time.

"What if he doesn't even remember you?" Isaac added.