NINE LIVES

" You must be Jericho Clay," the reflected image on the mirror spoke gravely. " I'm Giovanni Israel."

I opened my mouth and closed it, feeling blood leaving my face. " What?"

There was a long silence that chilled me. I stared at Israel's reflection, my heart banging hard against my ribs as he glared at me, his arms folded across his chest. 

I opened my mouth to scream but he cut me off immediately with a sharp note. 

" Don't even thinking about it. You do that, you're going to give the impression to everyone you're crazy and you don't want them knowing that. There are enemies everywhere. They'll kill you."

I shut my mouth, feeling my legs going wobbly. " Who are you?" I asked, trembling. " How did you know my name?"

Israel gritted his teeth. He looked disgustingly at me. " Where are  your guts, Jericho? I thought you had more guts than this. Quit being a chicken?"

" A chicken?" I quavered, pointing my finger at him. " You expect me to be calm when my reflection is right here speaking to me."

Israel's green angry eyes surveyed me from head to toes. " Don't be a fool, boy. I'm in your head. Everything you see right now is a result of your mind."

I tried to make sense out of what he was saying. " That's right. I must be hallucinating."

Israel sighed, rubbing his temples obviously frustrated. " Shít, how did I end up picking an idíot?" 

I didn't say anything. I remained where I stood, wondering if for a fact I was dreaming or seeing things. I pinched myself twice and the pains told me this was no dream nor hallucination. 

Yeah, this was for real. Or I was just going insane?

Israel suddenly spoke. " Hey boy. How old are you?"

My eyes widened. " D-did you just called me boy?"

Israel regarded me, his eyes narrowed and unimpressed. " How old are you?"

I became angry and I didn't know why. His Stony stare was beginning to irritate me. " For your information I'm sixty-five years old."

Israel scowled. " You're still a boy to me. From my guess you should be eleven years old this present day. I'm old enough to be your father."

He was right. I was born 1956. This was 1967. My younger self would be in New York, a little kid at the farm. The thought made me sweat. 

Israel continued. " Seat down, Jericho. I want to talk to you."

I sat down on the cushioned chair in the room, watching him. 

Suddenly Israel pulled himself out of the mirror and stepped fully into the room. How he did that sent a cold hand up my spine but I maintained my composure with an effort. 

Israel glared down at me and I had a presentiment this was a ruthless, dangerous man. A man who gives no damn about the law. A man who gets what he wants at whatever cost. A killer. A lover. A god. A Mafia boss. 

It was like looking at my doppelganger. 

Israel opened his lips. " I know you've got lots of questions," he paused, staring across the room at nothing in particular. " I want you to understand something, Jericho. I'm dead."

I swallowed. There it was, right out in the open. I was expecting that but I hadn't expected him to blurt it out so soon. 

" D...D-Dead?" I stuttered, terrified. " Then that means y-you're a ghost?!"

Israel didn't answer that, he dug his hands in his pocket and paced around the room with his head held high. " It might seem so. I lost my body but my spirit lives."

My face was already white from fright but it had begun to regain some of its colour. " So if you're dead, what'll that make me? I got murdered. I'm supposed to be dead as well."

" We both got murdered, Jericho," Israel snapped at me. " What's painful was who did it. If it were a stranger, it would have made more sense. Unfortunately, our murders were caused by the ones closest to us."

This guy. I opened my mouth and closed it. We did have something in common, don't we?

" Now, Jericho," Israel stood over me, his eyes hard and directly set on my face. " I'm going to ask. Do you love cats?"

" Huh?" I eyed him. " Cats?"

" That's what I said. Cats."

Of course I love cats. I took care of a lot of alley cats back at the farm in my own time. They usually pay me a visit and I gave them fish or milk. 

One day they stopped visiting. It was my wife who chased them away. She hates pet more than she hated me. 

I told Israel I loved cats. 

Israel nodded. " Then it is certain we're both connected. I own twenty cats at my Villa in Italy but that's not what's important now," he reached out and grabbed my shoulder. " Do you feel this?"

Yes I felt it. I felt his hand squeezing my shoulder. He was solid but how come? This was a dead man for crying out loud. 

I broke out in fresh sweats again. 

Israel confirmed it. " I wanna smoke."

I hastily took his gold case cigarette out of his pocket along with the lighter.  He took one cigarette and lit one. 

Pulling in smoke, he wandered over to the bed and took a remote. He faced his large wardrobe and pressed a button.

Suddenly, the wardrobe began turning slowly anticlockwise to reveal an inbuilt bar, hidden in the wall. Israel dropped the remote and walked over to make himself a drink. 

He didn't consult me if I wanted one. He just stood there, mixing himself his drink and smoking slowly. 

" Jericho," he began after a long pause. " Let me tell you a story. This ain't the regular stories you're used to. This is reality. I'm the head of the Giovanni family, one of the richest mafia family in the world. Our organization are stretched out even to the far East. We're everywhere, having businesses and companies worth millions of dollars. I'll stop there so you won't get confused. It's a big organization. You can never imagine how big. However, we're faced with a threat. A rival Mafia family that's been in a feud with us for two generation wants to eliminate the Giovanni family and take total control over their assets and power. They're the Capellos."

I watched him as he added ice to his drink and took a sip. " No one knows how this feud began. Our great grandfather would know but they're long dead. The hatred between the Capellos and the Giovanni family only intensified when my father got burnt alive in a bomb accident organised by the Capellos. I swore revenge and succeeded in capturing the head of the organization," blowing a cloud of smoke in the air, Israel regarded me coldly. " To get back at them for my father's death, I fed him to my crocodiles."

I swallowed when I saw he wasn't bluffing. His green eyes told you he was a straightforward man who meant every word he said. 

I made a wryly smile. " I see."

Israel crossed his legs. " After I've even the score between us, the Giovanni family made me their head and leader. I was a bright young man with ambition and a shrewd intelligent mind. The family business was handed over to me to handle even though I was the last child my father ever had the thought to father. It's a deadly politics in and out of the Giovanni family. Some members of the family won't like you, some become your secret enemies and some become your most trusted ally," he crushed his smoke on an ashtray, his face growing dark. " No enemy is more dangerous than the enemies from within. Even the Capellos are no stronger than the enemies we hold most dear to us which is why I cut everyone off. My father had wanted someone else in the family to lead but he was incompetent and unreliable. We're ten sons born from different mothers. Avenging my father's death pleased my family. I was exactly what they needed to fill in the position of my father's throne despite being young. I was everything a Mafia boss was: strong, ruthless, heartless, money minded, power hungry, shrewd, intelligent and great leadership qualities."

He finished his drink and dropped it on the counter. " But I didn't kid myself everyone was pleased with my accomplishment. I became a prey to both the enemies outside my family and the enemies inside. The Capellos came back to power and began a bloody secret campaign. That campaign's primary objective was to wipe out every member of the Giovanni family for good. This campaign was organized by the new Mafia boss of the Capellos: A red headed bítch named Lorelei; first daughter of Bernie Capello. She's popularly known as the Red Tigeress."

Israel asked for another cigarette which I gave him. He lit it and glared out the window. " She wants revenge over her father's death as well as power. The family feud is now at it's peak. As expected of her, her first target is me. Once a Mafia boss is down, the rest becomes pretty easy," he paused, frowning at his hands. " Hell sure hath no fury like a woman's scorn. When a woman as vile and ruthless as Lorelei sets her mind to eliminate you, you can be sure as fúck she'll keep to her words. She's a patient hunter, always waiting for the right time to strike her prey down. As you can imagine, I wasn't dealing with a kitty here. I was dealing with a deadly patient tigress. As head of the Giovanni organization, it became my duty to protect my family and the empire we've built from scratch. I'm not a man who's afraid of dying. Deaths don't scare me. I'm prepared to die anytime. However, I was scared I would die a meaningless death. I have that pride: to die protecting my family and my empire." 

I suddenly felt in the need of a smoke. I took out a cigarette and lit it. 

Israel continued. " I had the fortune of running into a gypsy one day at a show in London. She was an old hag, begging for alms. The Giovanni family are reputably generous. It's in our blood. After dropping a sensible amount of money in her bowl, I walked away. This old hag followed me all the way down to my car. The boys tried threatening her away but she wouldn't let me leave. Now I'm not the type of person who waste time with people but this woman was different. So I gave her audience in my car while the boys waited outside. The gypsy hag knew all about me, even information I kept most hidden From people. At first, I thought she was a spy but it turned out she wasn't. She wanted to give me a gift for my generosity. I don't know why but I booked an appointment with her and on the appointed day, we met at a dilapidated building deep in the slums. My men waited outside while I entered her room. The room was a mess but the hell with that, I came because she wished to give me a gift. We talked more about my fate. In a Crystal globe, she showed me my future. My death was getting closer than I thought. I saw myself getting shot five times at the back in Las Vegas. It was a meaningless death. I wanted to change my fate.  I had so much I want to accomplish. Unfortunately I cannot Change my fate, so she told me. I was definitely going to die in Las Vegas. But I can counter that death by switching my soul with someone else."

This was the part that got my attention. " Soul switching?" 

Israel blew smoke. " All I had to do was strike a deal with the devil. I sell my soul to him, I get nine lives."

Now it was getting real interesting right now. " So you sold your soul to the devil so you could have nine lives. That's a pretty deal to make."

Giovanni rasped at him. " It's witchcraft, I wasn't expecting anything. I knew I was going to die. I can't escape that fate but if I die, wouldn't it be worth it to return back from the dead with nine lives?" He continued sharply before I could answer. " I didn't have to think too much about it. I sold my soul to the devil in exchange for this nine lives. For that, I had to make exchange my soul with another man from the future. A list was given to me. I had no idea who these men were but they were all murdered in the future the same time and date I got shot. I saw your name and picked you. The ritual was done and I was rest assured I would get nine lives the day I die."

I immediately stopped smoking when he mentioned how he chose me to switch souls with him. 

Israel pointed the end of his cigarette at me. " The night I was shot in Las Vegas, you were murdered that very same time in the future. Our souls swapped and here you are in my body while I remain in your mind."

I wasn't saying anything. I couldn't. 

Israel went on. " You and I my boy, are sharing this body. You're in total control of my body; I'm in total control of your mind. I'm dead but my spirit roams around you," Israel paused as he came over to me and leaned over, his eyes dark and grave. " YOU ARE A CAT WITH NINE LIVES!"