Rendezvous

At 5:45 PM, Jasmine and Blake were already standing outside the Japanese restaurant waiting for the nun to appear. Roy had begged off yet again and was lazing around the hotel room doing nothing.

The rain had not let up. The roads were swollen with water and Jasmine's new plastic yellow sandals had gotten soaked as she trod across the broad street trying to get to the other side.

The heat was not as oppressive as the day before but the rain was warm as bath water.

She stood in front of the circular double red doors of the restaurant in her yellow sundress, holding onto the clear plastic umbrella. Before her, the steady stream of motorbikes roared past, half-submerged in the slowly rising water.

"I hope my aunt is not stuck somewhere in this rising flood." She whispered to a silent Blake who stood behind her.

"Me too. I have no idea where she is or I would offer to go and check on her."

"Thank you Blake. We still have fifteen minutes. I think she will be here soon enough."

Fifteen minutes later, Jasmine was still standing there waiting. The proprietor, an older man who had been escorting guests into the establishment all evening, finally came out to check on her.

"Mademoiselle, would you prefer to wait inside where it is not so wet? I can seat you by the front window so you can continue to keep a look out for her."

"Go on inside, Jasmine. We can grab a table and still watch for her." Blake muttered to her.

She nodded and followed the man inside.

True to his word, he took her to a table that had a clear view of the front.

By the time she had stashed her wet umbrella in the appropriate umbrella stand by the door, a waitress had brought out a pot of hot green tea for her.

"How can I share this meal with you, Blake?" She asked.

"You can't." Blake laughed. "The only way I can have any of this is if I use an incense offering stick, but we can't burn one of these inside a restaurant."

"I'll bring food back to the hotel and we can burn some for you and Ray."

His eyes grew bright.

"Then buy me some sake sashimi and some hamachi nigiri."

"Will do. What does Ray like, do you know?"

"Oh he's a basic bento guy. Bring him some chicken teriyaki and some tempura fried shrimp and he's a happy guy."

"Simple enough," Jasmine laughed.

They both sat side-by-side, chatting quietly and enjoying the few minutes before 6 PM as they watching a watercolor world of people and motorbikes moving by in rushed slow-motion.

For Jasmine, it was a precious quiet moment that seemed far more blessed and normal than any time in the last seven days. That was a crazy thought especially since the person she was spending time with was a deceased bandmate.

But being with Blake gave her a sense of security, and although she had only known him for a few weeks, he was such a kind and generous human being that it brought her joy to be with him.

For Blake, it was a bittersweet time that was spent with a woman that he wanted to get to know better but knew he could never be with.

She was still a living breathing human being and he had degenerated into a ghoul, trapped within a realm that he was desperately trying to find a way to escape.

As the two were sitting there, wrapped up in their own little world, on the other side of the restaurant, two men were sitting at a corner table, gazing at the girl in the yellow sundress.

She had long black curls, large brown eyes, and a strikingly beautiful face. Her luscious full lips were smiling as she said a few words to herself. Her eyes continued to peer out the window into the pouring rain of an evening that was starting to turn into nightfall.

"The young woman…" the man with a full head of gray hair gestured with his head.

"Her name is Jasmine Love. She is the one I want." The younger man with wavy hair narrowed his eyes as he blew a puff of blue smoke out of his mouth.

"I have separated her from the nun, who has been detained at one of the temples she visited earlier today. No one will know if we take her."

"So what is the problem?" The younger man shoved his cigarette stub into the ashtray and picked up his rock glass with the amber VSOP scotch whiskey on the rocks.

"I am still trying to figure out how to separate the man who is with her."

"What man?" His eyes narrowed.

He could normally sense spirits, but this Japanese restaurant was once a monkey temple. The ancient protections that were in place prevented him from using his extra-sensory perceptions here.

"You don't see him? He's sitting next to her. He's the one she's been making eyes at for the last fifteen minutes."

Anh Hai paused. He set his drink back down on the table. Reaching into his breast pocket, he pulled out his wallet and extracted two photos which he threw onto the table.

The female in the picture was the girl sitting at the table in the yellow dress.

"Is it this guy?" He tapped on the image of the male with the pretty boy looks, amber eyes, and long black hair with purple streaks.

"Yep. That's him."

"I want him too."

The older man gave a sharp inhaled breath.

"He's a ghoul. A strong one, from what I can sense. It's not going to be easy to subdue him."

Anh Hai sniffed.

"You have a dozen warlocks planted all around this restaurant. Are you telling me they can't take down one ghoul?"

"I'm telling you I can see his eyes and they're fixated on all of my men. He knows their locations so there won't be any kind of surprise attacks. There will be dead people inside my restaurant if I make a move against him."

Anh Hai picked up the rock glass and in one swift motion tossed the scotch into his throat.

"I don't care how you do it. I want both the girl and the ghoul, and I want them captured unharmed."

The old man shook his head.

"No deal. Our agreement was only to isolate the girl from the nun. I don't take jobs that have to do with ghouls this powerful. It's bad for my sushi business."

"You don't get it. I'm not making a deal with you. This is not a request." Anh Hai leaned in closer to the old man.

"You do as I tell you or you get the honor of being my next ghoul."