Page 19

Chapter Nineteen

E veryone stood, talking, making everything whirl. Or maybe that was the elixir.

“Brannigan. He must have Brannigan. He’s always been corrupt.” I headed blindly for the elevator, but Sashimi stepped in front of me.

“It’s already too late. If the Gray Society can’t stop the demon, then neither can we.”

“But we know who the host is. Do they? I never called it in. I need to go.” I pulled out my phone, calling Gabby, but the number wasn’t working.

“What do you mean, you need to go?” my mother demanded. “You’re the lieutenant. That means that you call your men to go deal with things. You’re having an important family dinner.”

“It means that I’m responsible, not that I’m above anyone else!” Why couldn’t she see that? Why couldn’t she see me?

“Foolish! Corcarn, you aren’t going to let her throw her life away, are you?”

Everyone looked at Sashimi, who was still blocking my way to the elevator, come to think of it. I looked at him, searching his eyes. I could see his struggle. He wanted to lock me up, to keep me safe, to hide me away from the rest of the world. But he was clever, and he could think through his instincts, at least usually.

I stepped closer and grabbed his hand, staring into those glowing eyes. “I need to save the city. I know it will be inconvenient for you to find someone else to disrupt your curse, but millions of lives hang in the balance.”

“I don’t care about millions of lives, Rynne Sato. I care only for yours,” he said softly, but his eyes were not soft.

My heart pounded as I stared at him. “What?”

“You are his bride,” my grandfather said, like it was obvious. “Do you think he would have a family dinner, including me, if you weren’t?” He shook his head, baffled by my blindness. He continued, eying Sashimi with determination. “It’s best to face reality when dealing with goblins. They will play with your perceptions, allow you to think what makes you the most docile, but you will run into the truth eventually. You belong to the Goblin King. You are his human bride.”

Everyone else was quiet while my mother’s face turned several shades of purple.

I turned to Sashimi, his silky hair so sleek and delicious, sweeping forward as he bent his head, looking down at our hands, so tightly woven together. “Is that true? Am I your curse?” My heart pounded as I waited an eternity for him to answer.

He slowly nodded, dark hair swishing back and forth. “You aren’t a curse, but you were the one I chose for my bride. That first letter, you asked me to save your brother, not yourself, but I was certain there would come a time when you would beg me to save you from your life. I would wrap you in beauty, love, happiness…” He looked up at me, brows furrowed. “You aren’t the type who asks to be saved. I love that about you, but it’s also my greatest frustration. The closest you came was when you asked for a place to stay until you found another apartment. If Trata hadn’t broken you out of my vault, you would likely still be there. Instead, you poured your life energy into me.” He frowned. “That puts me in your debt, not vice versa. It wouldn’t be fair to lock you away when I owe you for that, but I am not capable of watching you throw away your life. Your mother is right about that.”

Wait. He chose me for his bride? When? Why? “You wanted me to be your bride when I was just a child?”

My mother spat. “The Goblin King has stolen away many children to raise to be his bride. I knew that we shouldn’t trust a goblin! He made me forget by being such a good sushi customer.”

Trata objected. “Corcarn wouldn’t seduce a child. I mean, he hasn’t even seduced Pretty Rinny as a grown-up, and she’d be incredibly easy to seduce, mostly because he’s worked so hard to protect her from all the predators, including himself. I mean, one demon got through his net in how many years? He just wanted someone who knew our language. Usually the Goblin King’s bride is isolated, lonely, and depressed, like his mother.”

Ebon spoke up. “The sushi girl disrupted his train of thoughts, his habits, sending him in a different direction. He was bored with war, and she gave him something else to think about. He wouldn’t ever seduce a child. He didn’t even allow her to continue their correspondence once he’d met her in person as it made her too vulnerable to him.”

Sashimi winced and gave Ebon a look. “Thank you. I’m sure everyone now thinks I’m much less of a stalker.” He refocused on me, his eyes burning in their intensity. “I am your protector. The bindings between us originated in the Goblin King’s need for a human bride, but you still have to ask me to save you, to take you away with me.”

I winced. “I really am your curse. Fine. I’m a delicate human who will definitely die if a greater demon’s unleashed on earth.”

My mother choked. “How is that your problem?”

I whirled around to scowl at her. “It’s everyone’s problem!”

Sashimi’s eyes glimmered. “Not if I put you in my vault.”

I thumped his chest. “I asked you to save me. Save me by helping me defuse this demon threat. You can put me in your vault after we save the city. Keep me wherever you want, but right now, we have to go to war. I need your help. Please.”

His eyes burned with intensity. “You are asking for me to save you? You swear yourself to me?”

Shivers ran all over my body. What was I doing? Did I care about him? Yes. So much. But he was the Goblin King. Who worked so hard to have an ethical relationship when he was bound with a compulsive curse. I touched his smooth cheek. “Yes. Save me and my city and I’ll swear myself to you.” I was already his, heart, body and soul. Even if he didn’t want my heart, he had it.

He smiled, sharp and sudden. “I’m sure someone’s told you to never trust a goblin.”

Yes. He had. Over and over again. “I’m sure, but I trust you anyway.”

Some of the gleam faded from his eyes.

“I always have,” I added, squeezing his hand. “And I always will.”

He held my hand painfully tight for a moment before he relaxed his grip and nodded at everyone watching us intently. “We’re going to war against a demon who can control the mind of anyone corrupt. He needs two more deaths to summon a greater demon. The helicopter will be here shortly. If anyone would care to join us, my…girlfriend and I would love the company. Mr. Raccoon is coming if he can stop stuffing his face. It’s time you made yourself useful,” he added pointedly to my familiar.

Mr. Raccoon looked up, shrugged, and then waddled through the rest of the food until he got to the end of the table.

You should bite him so he feels better about us riding to our deaths. His eyes gleamed and teeth shone.

I don’t know why, but for some reason, I leaned into Sashimi, breathing in the skin of his neck, and then I bit him. Hard. Snapping my teeth like I was a feral raccoon who didn’t know any better.

He inhaled sharply and pulled me closer to him.

“I’m going,” Tarn said, not seeming to notice the goblin's blood on my mouth when I turned to look at him. “Obviously,” he added with a smirk.

“Same,” Trata said, giving Tarn a look, like he’d somehow insulted her by volunteering first.

“I’ll go,” my dad said, standing up and giving me a mild smile. Maybe I didn’t have goblin blood on my lips.

“Not a chance,” I croaked, suddenly nervous. “You’re a cook. What will you do, gut any falling fish?”

My grandfather pointed a butter knife at me. “We will both fight the demons. And you will learn to respect your elders.”

“I’d love to come,” Criss said, all fluttering wings and delight. “It’s important to use life well, to burn bright in the living.”

Ebon, her husband, nodded. “We will fight.”

My mother slowly stood. “I’ve been texting the coven. They’ll come as soon as possible. They’ll set up a perimeter line to diffuse the strength of the demon. Close combat isn’t our forte. You can stay safe and still fight.”

“Thanks mom,” I said, feeling a lump form in my throat.

She sniffed and glanced away. “Well, it will also be good for public opinion to see witches involved in the city’s well-being, and not just my daughter fighting on the front lines.”

“Public opinion?” I scoffed. “You sound like Winston the Warlock.”

She studied me for a long moment, then smiled. “Well, someone has to be reasonable.”

Mm hm. Because no matter how worthy the cause, it wasn’t reasonable for a witch to join the police force.

The helicopter arrived, and I climbed in with my family, all of us fitting in the rather large machine that creepily made no sound.

“I hope it didn’t ruin your garden,” I said, glancing at Sashimi.

He covered my hand with his and pulled me down on his lap while he sat in the chair, buckling us in together. “It can be redone,” he murmured in my ear.

I turned so I could see him and brushed his nose with mine. He was so beautiful. “We need to find the host so we can stop the demon, right? The courthouse is going to be clogged with Gray Orders and werewolves. Do you know much about Corratta demons? Do you know how far they can travel from the host? That’s the distance from the Courthouse we need to search. Probably on the side nearest her apartment building, where they were coming from, but if she’s clever, she’ll be moving, and keep moving.”

“If she was clever, she wouldn’t be working with a demon,” my brother said.

I sighed, shifting on Sashimi’s lap. I was still confused about being the Goblin King’s bride. It was obvious when you thought about it. How do you stop a curse like that? You don’t. You just choose your target. He’d chosen to bind himself to me. I guess that was something. Not what I needed to focus on. It was hard to not think about him when he had his arms wrapped around me and my grandfather kept looking at him like he was a viper about to strike. He knew goblins better than any of us. Maybe this was just a game of Sashimi’s. But if it was, then I had no choice but to play it. He was far too clever to beat. Why wasn’t I more clever? I had the boost of power from the Magga, but what could I do with it? I needed to study more, to make the most of what I was now. I was just a witch that could read auras. How could that be useful?

It’s not like I could look down and see the maid’s aura out of all those other people. Right? I looked down at the streets, the uniformed officers who blocked traffic and kept it away from the courthouse. There were still crowds further from the building, tons of civilians who wanted to know what was going on, or get through the blockade and get on with their day.

I squinted and focused on auras below, but the helicopter went too fast to really analyze the imprints well enough to know if the maid was one of them.

I swallowed hard and turned to Sashimi. “I have an idea that I might be able to find her by looking at auras. What do you think? Does that sound impossible?”

“Of course it’s impossible,” my mother snapped. “We should make a summoning.”

Sashimi darted a hard look at my mother before he smiled and brushed my nose with his. “It’s brilliant. Our binding will allow you to tap into my magical reserves, extending your own. Why wouldn’t you be able to read her aura? We’ll circle the area slowly while you look for her.”

“What? We’re going to sit in the helicopter?” Trata demanded, scowling like that was the ultimate betrayal.

My mother looked slightly pleased. “At least you’ll be safe.”

I wouldn’t mention that the maid could throw infernal fireballs at us.

I closed my eyes and focused down while the binding grew between me and the Goblin King. His strength was endless, and his magic unfathomable. He was not a creature to be trifled with, but I was the one he’d chosen to be his curse. That was something. Maybe that was the most you could hope for from a goblin. As Tarn said, they didn’t do commitment. Which is why Ebon was looking at Criss like she was his whole world. But he was only half goblin.

I couldn’t let myself be distracted. I leaned towards the opening and searched the streets of Sing while the wind brushed its fingers over my cheeks, chilling my skin. Sashimi’s heat soaked into me, a contrast with the wind and the rush of the world around us. Souls started flickering into existence, millions of specks of light and energy that I sifted through, searching for that one soul, that one aura I’d only really looked at once. No wonder my mother thought I was crazy to try it.

My stomach started to turn and Mr. Raccoon burrowed his face in my belly, which somehow helped instead of sending me over the edge.

My head started throbbing as I stretched out my senses and the helicopter sped past thousands of people living their ordinary lives. Heat built up in me until the wind was icy and Sashimi wasn’t warm anymore.

“She’s burning up. She needs to stop,” Tarn said.

“I’m fine,” I whispered, digging my fingers into Sashimi’s hands. He gripped me back, tension filling him as I drew more and more of his strength and power into me, seeing further, clearer, pushing through every stacked soul in countless apartment buildings. Woah! This really was upper level magical stuff. It was so hard!

My ears were ringing, every particle of my skin feeling pulled apart when I saw a flicker in my periphery.

I pointed a shaky finger in the direction of the soul, but the helicopter turned, so it fell behind. “Go back! I saw her!”

“Impossible!” my mother muttered, not very quietly.

Sashimi brushed his nose across my cheek, my sensitive skin burning at that touch. “Turn the helicopter. Slower. Lower.”

The chopper turned back so I could see her again, and then it lowered until we were hovering over a building with the demon’s host far below behind a garbage can.

I opened my eyes and would have fallen over if Sashimi wasn’t wrapped around me.

“Easy,” he murmured in my ear.

“I think I’m dying,” I whispered.

“That’s not overly dramatic,” Trata sniffed, then leaned forward to look past me down at the alley. “So we will get to fight? What’s the plan, Sashimi? Can I jump her, literally, or do you want some of the fun?”

He rumbled a warning to her. “She’s a Corratta demon’s host. The last time we saw her, she summoned infernal flames. Feel free to jump.”

She wrinkled her green nose at him. “You and your reverse psychology.”

“That’s the only psychology you have. I propose a plan.”

We all looked at Sashimi.

He cleared his throat. “I don’t have a plan. I just propose that we make one. I’m open to ideas. I’ve never destroyed a demon’s host before. I’m not incorruptible.”

“No one’s incorruptible,” my mother said, chewing on her bottom lip as she looked down at the host. “Can she see us, or is this one of those invisible goblin war choppers that are entirely unethical?”

“The latter,” Sashimi said with a slight smile.

Another wave of dizzy nausea rushed over me and I slumped against his chest. “Why was that so hard?” I whispered.

“It wasn’t hard,” my mother corrected. “It was impossible. You should know by now that when you do impossible things, there are unpleasant repercussions. Such as making friends with goblins, even if they are excellent customers.”

A fireball came out of the alley and struck the helicopter, enveloping us in flames and sending us spinning. I expected at least my lungs to be singed, but I couldn’t feel any changes in the temperature. My mother screeched while my grandfather started humming under his breath.

“Put it down on the rooftop,” Sashimi said, as calm as if that had been a gentle breeze. Oh. The helicopter must be very well-warded. Of course it was. So we weren’t going to die. Right. Good.

My head pounded while I blinked out the afterimage from the infernal flames, and the helicopter came down with a rough thud on the roof of the building, flickers of fire still coming off the blades.

“Nice! We’re in the right place,” Tarn said, hopping out of the cockpit, the first on the roof.

“Or there’s a random fire mage playing baseball,” Trata said, following him out, irritated that he was the first to race into danger again.

Sashimi released our straps and then carried me carefully out, dropping gracefully to the roof while he kept me close to his heart.

“I’m fine,” I mumbled.

“Of course. And that’s why your raccoon just vomited.”

“Did he?” I squinted at the ball of fur flopped face-down on the roof. “Of course he did. You know, if my familiar throws up so I don’t have to, that makes him a valuable asset.” Just then, my stomach lurched, and I scrambled away from him, landing next to Mr. Raccoon while I threw up what little I’d managed to eat for dinner. The gravel on the roof embedded in my palms, reminding me exactly how soft and human I was.

My trembling arms threatened to dump me in a pile of my own stomach acid, but Sashimi pulled me back against him with his arms around me. “Easy, love. I can feel how much energy you used. I’m afraid you’re going to have to let the others kill the host.”

Love? He shouldn’t use words like that. What did goblins know about love? Other than how to manipulate it? Also… “Wait. Can’t we capture her without killing her?”

Everyone turned to stare at me.

“What?” my grandfather said, frowning intently at me. I still wasn’t sure why he was here.

I cleared my throat. “She’s a human. She should be tried for her crimes, not executed. She may have sacrificed cats, but…” It wasn’t right to kill her. I wasn’t a vigilante, I was Lieutenant Sato of Singsong City, and I wasn’t going to let corruption have a toehold in my soul. No executions without a trial.

“Cats?” Trata looked appalled. “What’s wrong with her? She needs to be put down.”

“Rynne’s right,” Tarn said, looking up from his phone. “Got a message from Winston. We have to exorcise her and then cast out the demon to a different dimension, but who knows how to do that? Killing her won’t get rid of the demon. It’ll just possess the closest corrupt person.”

“She’s taking off down the alley,” Criss the fairy lilted where she stood on the edge of the roof, indifferent to the height as she fluttered her wings. “Shall I try to distract her?”

“A trap,” I said, struggling to disentangle myself from Sashimi’s arms. “We lure her into a five-point star, summon the demon, and then send the demon back. We’ve got enough people, and the three of us know how to manage a circle.” I smiled at my dad and grandfather. They had identical frowns on their faces.

“Draw her in?” My father said slowly. “And who would we use as bait?”

I smiled wanly at the person who had played chess with me my whole life. “Well, the demon definitely hates me the most.”

“No.” Sashimi’s voice was firm. “You already used up all your strength with the aura search. You can’t run fast enough to get away from her.”

I looked up at him, smiling. “You know that, but she doesn’t. Someone else is going to be glamoured to look like me while I help with the circle. I’ve heard that the Goblin King can make a wicked glamour.”

His eyes narrowed and then he kissed my nose. “You heard right. I would be honored to wear a glamour of my girlfriend while she sets up an essential circle to trap the demon’s host.”

“She’s across the street,” the fairy said sweetly.

“Thanks, darling,” Ebon said, smiling at her softly. He couldn’t not smile when he looked at her. They were so adorable. If a half-goblin could love so much, why couldn’t Sashimi? He’d called me, ‘love.’ Maybe he meant it.

Sashimi gave me one last squeeze before he let me go. “I’m going to leap to the next roof carrying Rynne, or a person wearing her clothing. Trata?”

She grinned at him and started stripping.

Tarn cleared his throat and turned around while Sashimi started tugging off my jacket.

“Oh. Right. I mean, that’s a great idea to use her as a decoy, but…” I stared at him feeling seven kinds of weird while he unbuttoned my shirt until my mother was there, slapping his hands away and rushing me across the roof, turning me so I could undress. I was too slow, so she ended up taking over. My hands were still trembling, and when she saw my ripped blouse and still seeping bandage, she hissed her annoyance. She pulled Trata’s leather vest over me and zipped it up, then with the leather pants. We were not the same size, but I managed to cram myself into the outfit that left more of my stomach exposed than hers. I was apparently a bit taller than the goblin girl. Also a bit more soft and squishy, both hip and bust.

“Obscene,” my mother mumbled, then ushered me back to the group. I felt kind of weird when Sashimi glanced at me, sweeping over my bare skin with a blink of golden eyes before he nodded at Trata, who was rolling up the waistband of my pants.

I straightened my shoulders and smiled at Sashimi. “You’ll attack her and then fall back, leading her to this alley. We’ll set up the star behind the garbage can where we’ll capture her. Any questions?”

“How do we get down there?” my dad asked. “We can’t scale walls.”

“My brother and sister-in-law will see that everyone descends safely.” Sashimi gave Ebon a pointed look, and the goblin gave him a sober bow in return. Sashimi turned to me for a moment, cupping my cheeks and gazing into my eyes while he brushed his nose against mine and I grabbed his wrists, wanting more connection.

“Be careful,” I said.

He smiled slightly. “I’m more or less indestructible. You be careful. I’m counting on you to have a very long life.”

I nodded while my heart beat faster. “That’s the deal. I asked you to rescue me.”

“Or the city, but who’s keeping track of the details?” He hesitated and then bent his head to close the distance between our lips. I melted against him while his soft mouth promised something sweet and tantalizing. Love. It was a lie, and never trust a goblin, but it was the most delicious thing I’d ever wanted.

He pulled away and turned, grabbing Trata in his arms as he darted towards the edge of the building and then leapt off, launching so far and so fast, I could only gape after him. He caught the side of the building and slid down with Trata’s face hidden over his shoulder, my jacket ruffling in the wind.

I exhaled a breath when they landed on the ground and darted down that alley, disappearing from sight.

“All right. Who’s first?” Ebon asked, smiling politely.

I grabbed my mother and Tarn. “The three of us need to start the circle right away.”

The fairy grabbed my mother’s wrists and lifted her into the air with a shimmer of fairy dust, spinning off the side of the building while my mother kicked her legs and her mouth gaped open and closed while she tried not to scream and alert the host to our position.

Ebon gestured Tarn closer, then put my brother’s arms around his neck and picked me up.

I swallowed and gripped the large goblin’s shoulders. “Aren’t two people too heavy for you?”

He smiled, showing sharp teeth. “Witches are almost as light as humans.” He stepped off the side of the building, but he landed on the first sill, toes somehow finding the two-inch lip without struggling to balance my brother’s shifting weight or my awkward terror. He dropped again, down two floors, barely landing in time to release some of the energy of the fall before he was dropping again, like it was a game of leapfrog, hop, hop, hop, and then we were balanced on the edge of the garbage can. He unslung Tarn and then dropped me into his arms before he scrambled up the building, scaling the face as quickly as he’d gone down it.

“Goblins are so freaky,” Tarn said while we both stared up at Ebon, catching our breaths.

“Enough gawking,” my mother snapped. “We need to get this circle put together. How handy that I always have an emergency circle kit in my fanny pack.”

I needed a fanny pack. Tarn lowered me while we exchanged a look as old as time. Our mother was kooky, but she was always prepared to make an emergency circle.

We started working quickly. I drew chalk lines carefully, because my hands were still so shaky. We were halfway done by the time Ebon had brought my father and grandfather down. Criss was looking pale around the edges as she looked at the tall buildings around her.

“Criss, will you stay on the roof as a lookout?” I said, mostly to get her somewhere safe.

She shook her head no. “I’m here to protect you for Sashimi.” Her smile was a beautiful thing to see. “You brought him to life.”

My heart panged, but I shook my head and kept working on the summoning circle. Finally, we heard footsteps on the far side of the garbage can, slow clumsy steps that couldn’t possibly be Sashimi. When I came running around the garbage can, big eyes, determination written over my features, it struck me that I looked like an idiot without the slightest idea what I was doing.

I leapt surprisingly far over the circle, and right after my double was the maid, the woman infused with demonic power, who stumbled into the chalk and salt star with a gasp and a snarl.

A line of white light shot up as she reached past the markings, making her draw back her fingers, teeth bared as she glared at me.

“You,” she whispered, pointing at me while her fingers barely stopped short of the boundary that leapt up at the threat of her closeness. “I’m going to see your skin shredded from your body, slowly so your goblin abomination can soak in your agony.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to kill her?” Trata mumbled as my glamour melted off her.

I shook my head and took my father’s hand on one side and my grandfather’s on the other. They were only human, but they were strong, feeding the spell of holding as well as any witch, raising those white lines higher and higher until they bent in on her. With a flicker of red, the demon was there, in the containment circle with his host.

“He smells so bad,” Criss murmured. She was right. The scent of rotting potatoes mixed with sulphur and brimstone made me gag.

The demon snarled at her, then at every person in the circle, hesitating on Sashimi.

“I can’t possess someone already obsessed. You’re filled with too much to have room for more.” His voice was surprisingly clear and civil. He looked at me, eyes flickering with amusement. “Rynne Sato. The Incorruptible Lady Justice. There is so much in you that could be twisted, from the rage of injustice to the bitterness of unfulfilled dreams, but it would take more time than I have. Seems some of you know what you’re doing.”

He looked at my mother, his eyes flickered, and then with a scream that was like nails scraping down my soul, the maid convulsed and then fell to the ground, silent and still while the demon popped out of existence with a slight puff of pink smoke. The flaring binding went out, and so did all of us, collapsing like our strings had been cut.

Sashimi caught me before I hit the ground, cradling me against his chest while he caressed my cheek.

“She’ll get her trial, Lady Justice. It seems that you’ll always get your way.”

I smiled blearily and then went out like a streetlight smashed by a baseball bat.