Out of the Black - Lee Doty [182]
"Get a room." Hawthorne shouted above the music as she danced by in the embrace of an immense tattooed cop with a boss scar on his neck.
Indeed.
***
It was late. The last rays of sun had long since deserted the entranceway to the Kwoon. Ping's parents had been defeated for the third time and were upstairs licking their wounds. This thought brought the most disturbing image to Anne's mind.
"What?" Ping said, noticing her shudder.
"Nothing." She raised the pink plastic sword with the worn padding and arched her eyebrows. "Your chit-chat will not save you from my copious annihilation."
"Why? Are your guts going to splash on me or something?" Ping asked with an arched brow.
"No, I mean my copious annihilation... uh, of you." Anne shifted her feet, fidgeted a bit with her hair with her left hand, bit her lip.
"Ah." Ping said, allowing a grin to pull at the corners of his mouth. "You are a killing machine, Miss Kelley, but we have ground to cover with your bantering skills. And besides- It is your suffering that will be copious!" Ping shouted, lunging in for the attack, and the melodramatic battle was on.
She parried his fierce purple sword and compensated as he tried to pivot his "blade" around hers. She forced him to parry a slow motion counterattack, watching his technique. She compensated again as he tried to break the geometry of her attack.
She made the mistake of focusing too much on his blade work, so the kick to her knee caught her by surprise. She readjusted her weight and kicked his retreating leg cross-body. The kick compromised his geometry by twisting him off the line of the fight between them. He compensated by leaping in the direction of the twist. He pivoted to face her again, slashing downward, trying to catch her leg.
"Let your kneecap be the first installment in the payment schedule of your demise!" He shouted, shaking his sword for emphasis.
That got him a laugh. "It is your doom that is amortized across these payments, pal!"
"You only laugh because you realizeow little of that payment was principle!" He tried to use her laughter to cover his next attack, but her sword thunked off his head three times, leaving him confused. Thinking back, he was pretty sure one of those hits came out of the air directly above him. For such a big girl, she sure could catch air.
"Your kung fu is for kittens." She said playfully from behind him, her plastic sword tapping him on the shoulder with each word.
"Man, that's annoying." He sighed, rubbing his head.
Dedication
For my wife, Amber. Without her faith and patience, this book would still be an idea I wished I had time to write down.
For little Dek Kerhin, the first (of many, I'm sure) baby to be named after a character in this book.
Special thanks to the people who read this book when it was a word doc, and then a sheaf of poorly bound eight by eleven. Thanks for all the suggestions, encouragement, and especially for the criticism.
Lynne and Brian Kerhin
Matthew and Jen Doty
Anna, Elaine, Bob and Carolyn Doty
Giovanna Doty
Chris DeGreef
Scott Knowles
Larry Stuart
Craig Puhala
Tim Park
Thanks to the muses who inspired me during hours of writing and revising: Delerium, Curve, Etnica, Pleiadians, and the touchsamadhi.com crew- especially SOT, Kri, and DJs Dragon and Derby. These folks make the music I imagine on the movie adaptation's soundtrack.
And a big, resounding thanks to anyone with enough fortitude to make it through all those thank-yous. With great admiration, I paraphrase The Kentucky-Fried Movie on your behalf: "You are a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude!"
Table of Contents
Prologue: Out of Time
DARKNESS
AFTERMATH
UNTOUCHED, UNKNOWN
RULES OF EVIDENCE
UNION
DOORWAYS AND KEYS
LIVING DEAD
DISTURBING BEHAVIOR
AMPLIFICATION
FIRE
FACES OF THE DRAGON
INSIGHT
TEARS IN RAIN
BETWEEN ROOMS
DEMONS
UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD
LOST AND FOUND
LIGHT
BURNING TO BEAUTY
CONVERGENCE
EPIPHANY