Babysitting the Fire Priestess

Chapter 20

“Priestess?! What the f**k are you talking about?!” Mandy shouted at them.

Everyone was on their f*****g knees right now.

I am so confused!

Should I be on my knees too?

Mandy turned to me.

“What the f**k?” she asked me.

I just shrugged my shoulders.

The guy who pointed a gun at us stood up.

“You are the priestess that we’ve been waiting for” he said to Mandy.

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about” she said.

The guy moved closer to Mandy and I immediately pulled her towards me in a protective manner. He then touched her forehead and Mandy fainted in my arms.

“What did you do?!” I angrily shouted to the guy.

“Relax, I just made her see” he answered.

“Made her see what?” I asked.

“Her destiny as the fire priestess” he said.

I looked down to Mandy who’s still unconscious in my arms.

“Who are you people?” I asked them.

“We are the followers of the Phoenix” he said.

“Fenikkusu” said the other beside him.

“I don’t understand. A phoenix—“

Then, the realization hit me like a truck. Mandy dreamed of a fiery phoenix last night. Was that a coincidence or connected to what is happening right now?

Mandy stirred in my arms and she opened her eyes. She looked daze and disoriented.

“Are you okay?”  I asked her.

She turned to me and she looked pale. She then hugged herself. She didn’t even answer my question.

“Let’s go inside my den”

“You didn’t even tell us your name yet and you want us to go to your den? Are you crazy?” I told him.

I can’t help but to be annoyed with this old dude.

“Sorry, my name’s Akiro and you are?” he asked me.

“It’s Ryan” I said blandly.

“Now, can we go to my den so that we can all talk properly?” he said.

“We don’t have any choice, do we?” I said.

“You don’t” he said.

I helped Mandy stood up. Akiro already turned his back at us and started walking to the direction of his den. I looked at Mandy but her eyes were on the floor. It seems like she’s thinking something really deep. I wonder what she saw.

“Let’s go?” I asked her.

She flinched when I touched her elbows.

“Are you okay?” I asked her again, this time I’m worried.

She snatched her elbow from me and just nodded. She then followed Akiro to the den. I don’t have any choice but to follow her.

I am sitting on the couch and Mandy is beside me. Akiro’s den looked like a criminal hide out. There were a lot of old newspapers all over the walls and it seems most of them were about Mr. Sevilla’s businesses. There were also pictures of Mandy scattered all over the walls. I looked around and spotted two cameras at the ceiling.

Were they tracking Mandy from the very beginning?

“You are the last blood of the Ashitara clan” Akiro said to Mandy.

He was sitting on the couch across from us.

“So?” Mandy asked.

“You are the chosen one. The last blood of our enemies”

“Enemies? Your enemies?!” I asked and immediately stood up in panicked.

If these people were our enemies then we are dead!

“Relax young man. The tension already subsided many years ago. I believed we can help each other” Akiro said.

I slowly sat down back on the couch.

“Sorry, he’s just been panicky these days. We’ve been through a lot, okay? A syndicate named Red Fox is after us” Mandy told him.

I can see Akiro sat upright when Mandy mentioned the Red Fox.

“You heard of them?” I asked him.

“They’ve offered us an allegiance. They want us to capture you two and bring you to them in exchange for a large amount of money” Akiro said.

“Holy s**t! And why should we trust you again?” I challenged him.

“Because the Phoenix chose Mandy here”

“How did the choosing take place? I’m confused. Based on her mom’s diary, Mandy was a daughter of a fire spirit, an Akuma” I said to Akiro.

“Yes, she’s indeed a child of a fire spirit but she was chosen by the Phoenix too. When she was still a child, Celestine brought her to me when she was convulsing and her skin turned to red. That was the time we knew that she was chosen by the Phoenix. There were children of fire spirits prior to her but that never happened to them.  She was the only one chosen” Akiro explained.

Mandy and I looked at each other.

“What about the tattoo on my back? What’s this supposed to mean?” Mandy asked Akiro.

“That tattoo is the key to the Ashitara treasure that Celestine hid somewhere below the Mt. Fuji” Akiro said.

“Wait, was that in Aokigahara forest? The place where Celestine stopped the ritual?” I quickly asked him.

“Yes, you’re right. You see, a child of a fire spirit brings imbalanced to this world. They can bring famine and destruction if they can’t control their gifts or if they are influence by bad people. I suspect that must be the reason why the Red Fox is after you” Akiro explained to us.

“So, why are you helping us then? What can you get from all of these?” Mandy asked Akiro.

“We have never summoned the fiery phoenix before but we do believe to its powers and greatness. It never showed its presence to us but we can only feel it. In the old books, it was said that if you summoned the phoenix, it will grant you three wishes but the thing is, only a fire priestess that’s been chosen by the Phoenix can summoned it. We want you to be the one to communicate to the phoenix for our wishes” Akiro said.

Mandy sat upright and raised her brows.

“Three wishes huh, how about me? I think I deserve to have something in return for all these efforts” she said.

“Nice thinking” I whispered to her and she elbowed me in return.

“Fair enough. You can have one wish then but you need to give us half of the Ashitara treasure in return” Akiro said.

“I don’t need that much money, I already have more than enough. Deal!” she said and shook hands with the old dude.

“How are we going to start the ritual then?” I asked Akiro.

“Not now. It will be ten days from today. We need to wait for the blood moon to come in order to fulfill the ritual” he answered.

“What are we going to do before the ritual then?” I asked Mandy.

She looked at me.

“Try our best not to get caught or killed by the Red Fox and to enjoy Japan as well” she said, smirking at me.

“The priestess is right. Take this one as a vacation for the meantime but stay low. We don’t want our priestess to be in trouble with the enemies” Akiro said to us.

“Thank you for that very helpful advice. You just repeated what she just said, basically” I said sarcastically.

Akiro just shook his head in reply to my snide comment.

“I think we should go now” Mandy said to him and stood up.

I immediately stood up too.

“Okay then, my men will take surveillance of your place for additional security” he said to us.

“Sure” Mandy just answered and she started walking towards the door. I followed her.

“Wait! I almost forgot! The priestess needs to be pure during the time of the ritual” Akiro said to us.

Mandy spinned around quickly to face him.

“Pure? What do you mean pure?” she asked.

“You need to be a virgin during the ritual. Therefore, no s*x for the two of you” Akiro said.

I can feel my cheeks burning again.

Shit!

Mandy’s brows crease.

“How did you know that I’m still a virgin? I mean, what if I’m already not?” she asked.

The old man grinned.

“We had our ways” he said.

“By the looks of it, you were stalking me!” she protested while pointing to her pictures on the wall.

Akiro turned to me and said:

“I trust you won’t touch the priestess, yes?” he asked me.

“O-of course! We’re not going to sleep together! Plus, we’re not even a couple. She’s my client and I’m his bodyguard” I said, stuttering.

I wanted to punch myself from stuttering. I sounded too defensive.

“You’re defensive” Akiro said, voicing out my thoughts.

Mandy glared at me and she started to walk out from the room.

I quickly followed her outside.

She’s walking in a fast pace. She looked angry though.

I widen my strides to catch up with her and pulled her elbow.

“Wait up! What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“Is that really what you think of me? Just a client and nothing more else?!” she asked me, anger was evident in her eyes.

For a second, I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know she will get offended with what I said to Akiro.

“What do you mean? That was the truth” I told her.

“Clients and bodyguards don’t kiss each other! Am I really just a client to you? Just a client?!” she said.

Then I noticed another emotion passed in her eyes. She looked hurt.

I started to panicked. I can feel my hands were starting to feel clammy. I don’t know what to say to her. I’m worried I might pick the wrong words and she’ll get offended even more.

“Don’t follow me” she said and turned away.

She’s walking fast on the sidewalk and I just stood there like an i***t.

I do as she said. I didn’t follow her.

 I realized that I also need to sort out these emotions that I have recently.

Is Mandy really just a client to me?

I really don’t think so.