Chapter 6: Anh Hai
The incense was thick and murky, hazing the air with its opulent scent. From beyond the doorway, a steady drone of voices drifted into the inner chamber, too muted to be intelligible.
It looked like Peking roasted duck and hot rice porridge was on the menu tonight. Marvin smiled as he sniffed the air.
He had never cared what these folks wanted him to do, as long as they fed him well, paid him his gold coins, and kept him protected from the bigger demons.
The consecrated fruits and rice didn't interest him much, although the hoe, Maysie Woods grabbed those as soon as they were smoked up. She was supposed to have been a vegetarian when she was still alive.
Not him though. Nope. He sucked up the meats and the whole roasted chicken and duck like there was no tomorrow. Them Asian peeps really knew how to cook!
He had even been able to persuade that shit-head Anh Hai to smoke him up some cigs and a shot of Smirnoff. That had been rare and put him in a good mood.
Shit.
Stupid fuckin' Luis tried to jump the fence yesterday and was now stuck in the fuckin' jar. Ain't nobody he knew ever got out of the jar unless Anh Hai broke the rules, and so far, the rules ain't ever been broke.
As far as Marvin was concerned, rules were for losers. He did this, not because it felt good to pound them stupid mothas outta their skulls but because he needed to survive.
Survival was top on his list. Nothing was more important than survival.
Since he'd been summoned by Overlord Anh Hai to report the results of Blake's death, he was certain Maysie Woods was around somewhere. She needed to check in with Anh Hai as well.
'Maysie.' He called out, mentally casting for her.
'You here Maysie?'
'Where are you? I don't see you anywhere.' Maysie's voice came back, a bit scared.
'I'm right here, inside Blake's pouch.'
'What??? How…'
'Long story. I'll tell ya later. Food is coming.'
The door creaked open.
Hot damn! Chow time.
A pale little girl with long black hair poked her head into the room. With frightened eyes, she surveyed the place, looking for ghouls and ghosts.
Stupid hoe! She wouldn't be able to see anything anyway. Ain't nobody ever saw any of them, even though Maysie was lounging around on the fainting couch and Blake was standing right in front of her face with his funny-ass serious expression.
The girl carried a heavy platter of food into the room, going straight through Blake. She placed the tray of food onto the side table and took down the plate filled with fruits and meats from the altar.
Then, she replaced it with the platter she had just brought into the room. It was filled with the same kinds of fruits and meats that were on the old plate.
She picked up the old plate and then called out.
"It is ready, Anh Hai."
From beyond the doorway, a tall man in his late thirties stepped in. He was dressed in a cream-colored linen suit of expensive European cut and styling. In between two digits of his fingers, he held a long thin dark brown cigarette. It looked like it had just barely been lit.
Light from the altar gleamed off his long, slicked-back hair and bounced off the four-carat brilliant cut white diamond on his right ring finger.
Anh Hai paused in front of the young girl and bent to inspect the tray of victuals she had taken down from the altar just minutes ago.
He took a drag of his cigarette and then poked at the shell of a hard-boiled egg with a perfectly trimmed, manicured finger.
It crumbled under his touch, revealing an empty chamber inside. He repeated this process to a few more items on the tray, yielding the same results.
The oranges were hollow, as were the bananas and the kiwi fruits. The skins of the roast chicken held its plump shape, but deflated once his probing finger touched it.
He picked up the uncorked unopened sweet rice wine bottle.
It was dry as a bone.
"The tray is very light, Anh Hai," the girl murmured in a frightened voice.
"C'est la vie, eh?" Anh Hai shrugged. "That's life."
Or more appropriately, that was death.
He waved his hand, dismissing her. When he was finally alone in the dimly lit room, Anh Hai reached over to a side table and pulled out three incense sticks from a bundle that had been placed with care inside a tin canister.
He took a final drag of the cigarette in his left hand and, as he blew the blue smoke from his pursed lips, used the tip of his cigarette to light the incense sticks.
Then Anh Hai stood before the altar and stuck the incense sticks with care into a heavy claw-footed brass bowl. The bowl was set in front of a ceramic beast which had the appearance of a tiger.
"Oooh la-la! Almost forgot." Anh Hai snapped his fingers and chuckled to himself as he removed one incense stick. He licked his thumb and forefinger, putting out the lighted tip with a hiss of steam.
He then glanced at the life-sized painting that was hung on the opposite wall, admiring the naked Asian woman with the long black hair and red swollen lips. His heavy-lidded eyes stirred with a passion that seemed ancient and unquenched.
Ass-hole! Marvin growled as he sucked in the juices of the Peking roasted duck. Maysie had her hooks on the oranges, taking the pulp and juice out with her fangs.
Poor Luis was stuck in the jar, starving. The third incense stick was supposed to be for him, but Shit-head here couldn't even leave it alone!
Two measly sticks!
Two stupid stingy measly sticks to end the life of a really decent kid who'd done nothing wrong.
They'd done so much work for that ass-hole! If Marvin had poltergeist powers like Blake did, he'd yank down that ugly painting and pull Luis out of the jar that had been tucked into that hole behind that naked Asian woman.
Then they could squeeze themselves into Anh Hai's snot-encrusted nostrils and play some Gangsta rap, REAL THE FUCK LOUD right next to the ass-hole's ear drums. Let him see how it feels to have to put up with the likes of big daddy and the hoe Maysie.
Blake would be especially happy, since that was how he'd been tortured to death.
Especially fun would be what Luis could come up with as pay-back for being stuck in that jar behind that naked whore. The fucker's brains would be pulp in no time.
"Disembodied spirits, I command you to show your presence to me." Anh Hai raised both his hands up into the air and made a sign before bringing his arms down in a slow arching sweep.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone