by Viola Grace
He snorted. “What do you want?”
She flipped open her app and showed him. He muttered. “Clear the table.”
She pulled the items off the wide square coffee table and looked at him. He didn’t pull out his phone. He narrowed his eyes and waved his hand slowly over the table. Dishes from all of her favourite takeout places were now steaming on her table. Each one was presented on a ceramic plate and very elegant. Even the fried chicken had a dusting of chives sprinkled across them.
She blinked when she saw the apple cider cans to the side. They had definitely not been on her list of things that she had shown him. They were way down in her history.
She went to stand. “I will get some glasses and plates.”
He handed her a set of chopsticks. “This is all you need.”
She blinked and looked at them. “This did not come with the food.”
He snorted. “I can materialize food; you think that I can’t make some smooth wooden sticks?”
She took the carved pieces and bit her lip, looking around at the options.
She would be leaning in his lap if she took the piece she wanted, so she got up and went to the other side of the table, sitting on the floor on his right.
He looked at her and slid off the couch to kneel next to her. “I haven’t done this in a while.”
Serene played innocent. “Eating takeout?”
She got some stir fry and lifted it to her mouth. She wanted to groan happily. She had always been a fan of food. Her growth spurts had just made her choose based on need and not want. Now that she was a grown-up, she could go for want and just work it off later.
“No, sitting with a pretty girl and being able to be myself.”
She nearly dropped the next bite. That he was putting effort into flattering her was cute, but she knew what she was. She was too much. Too much curve, too much height, too much wit, and too much competence. She tended to attract the men just close enough for them to slingshot out of her orbit. She wondered where she was going to find as entertaining a workplace. The Boss wouldn’t want her around for long.
He paused. “That is one of the darkest frowns I have seen you exhibit. What is it?”
“Just thinking about the life cycle of a relationship.”
He chuckled. “Don’t think too hard. Some relationships are minutes, others hours, days, or years. Then, there are the ones measured in centuries, and situations like ours, which spread out over thousands of years.”
“Are there a lot of situations like ours?”
He quirked his lips. “There are a few. We did not let ourselves be returned to nature. We fought to stay ourselves, and in doing so, we absorbed other minor deities and demons along the way.”
“Did they also have women go missing?”
“Certainly. A few fell in love with humans, and when their mate died, they began to slowly drift apart. We found ones that were likeminded enough to mesh well with us. We got their strength, and they got a chance to seek out their lost lover again.”
She devoured a piece of chicken, and then, she licked her fingers.
He had a wry amusement in his gaze. “Until now, I did not believe that we could find both in the same human.”
She took more of the noodles and beef and mumbled with her hand in front of her mouth. “I don’t understand.”
“During my walk around the world, I found an oni who had lost his bride, a snow woman. She had gotten too warm while caring for their children on a summer’s day while he was away. He arrived home to find her dying. Her family had taken the children to keep them, but she had insisted on being home when he arrived so he wouldn’t worry. It was their hottest summer in centuries.”
“So, she died because she wanted to be there for her husband.” She nodded and picked up some shrimp.
“Yes. It was heartbreaking. Couldn’t she have left a note?” She shrugged. “If they couldn’t read and write, a giant arrow pointing toward her family home?”
He paused. “Are you mocking their love?”
“No, just the critical thinking.”
He snorted. “Anyway, the oni cremated her and consumed her ashes. Her spirit roamed free.”
“Miyuki.” She whispered the name and then kept eating.
Chapter Six
Serene listened to Miyuki’s tale of woe, and woeful it was. The oni had stolen her from her parents, taking her to his bright, hot home, and was on her every moment of every day that he was home. He loved her, but it was a selfish love.
She had urged him to go out drinking, sent her children away to her parents’ up the mountain, and stayed in the bright hot sun to die. Her bastard husband had found her dead, cremated her and consumed her ashes to tie them together. Her soul had flown loose, but then, the oni had found the Boss, and the tie had gotten stronger. She had gone looking for a woman who could help her fight the tie, but this was so much better. Serene could manage the flame and put out the fire.
“I can do what now?” She covered her mouth as she said it aloud.
The Boss was staring at her. “Why is he afraid?”
“He didn’t treat Miyuki very honourably. He kidnapped her, assaulted her, He kept her caged in an environment where she was vulnerable. Kept her pregnant, and when she died, instead of returning her to her family, he kept her with him. So, she looked for help for a long time, and then she found me.”
She paused and took another bite. “I guess I am haunted.”
“Well, I have a demon hiding inside me, so there must be veracity to her claim. I thought he was grieving, as I was.”
She snorted and continued eating. “Grieving? You screwed your way through the human population, and that was before the edict came down.”
He blushed.
“You and he had fire in common, womanizing and a lost spouse. No wonder you bonded.”
“How long do you want me to apologize? I will do it.” He hung his head.
She thought about it. “I don’t honestly know. I think I will have to make a list.”
He paused, and his head came up. “A list?”
Serene smiled. “You know me. I make a list and tick things off, and then the task is done.”
Her mind was telling her she could do something, so she put down her chopsticks and raised her hand. A notepad and pen appeared.
The first thing on the long list was Free Miyaki. The rest were different ways that the Boss could make things up to the goddess in her skin. A few of them she wrote down without looking, and then, she saw what she had written, and she scribbled it out with her cheeks hot.
He was browsing the food while she scribbled with her right hand and ate with her left. When he reached for a piece of chicken she was going for, she smacked the back of his hand with the sticks and then snagged the piece she wanted.
Once she had the chicken, she put it in her mouth and put the chopsticks down. The entire time she was writing, she was munching away.
He was chuckling and then wincing as she flipped over another page. “How much more?”
“They have been angry for a very long time. Let them vent.” She smiled.
“They?”
“Best guess, there are three of us in here. Your little stunt today knocked them loose from my main personality. The human bit.”
He chuckled. “You are human, goddess, and ghost. You are a monster.”
She paused and gave him a dark look then kept writing.
She stopped eating when the food got cold and grunted as she finished the last of the conditions. “There.”
“That’s a novel.”
“Don’t exaggerate. A novella or a slim volume of poetry, at best.”
He growled and paused. “What does this say?”
“I scribbled it out. It was a mistake.”
He went looking for more mistakes, and he got an impish grin. “So, one of you put these down, but your human component crossed them out?”
&nb
sp; “Something like that.” She got up and started to collect the dishes. He waved his hand again, and they were all gone.
Dang. She had been looking forward to leftovers. She might not like eating cold savoury food, but she knew how to work a microwave.
He sighed and looked at her. “There is a lot of stuff on here.”
She raised her hand, and a red pen appeared. “Check them off as you accomplish them.”
She handed him the pen, and he looked at the page. “I think I can cross number four off the list.”
The Boss grabbed her wrist and pulled her around the table. She squawked, but the sound was soon muffled as he kissed her. It wasn’t a tentative kiss like it had been in the other world, this was a possessive I’m glad you are finally with me again sort of kiss.
He had a fistful of her braids, and he held her carefully as his tongue coaxed her into participating. She lifted her hand and held onto his arm. Her other hand was trapped between them.
He broke the kiss and continued down her neck as he moved her robe to one side and her head to the other. He licked and sucked his way toward her collarbone, and when the robe parted to reveal her pyjamas, she panicked. Her hands pushed him away, and ice pulsed through the rings.
He leaned back and yelped. “What the hell?”
She skittered back out of his grip and got to her feet before her knees gave way. He knelt next to her. “What’s wrong?”
The idiocy of the question roared through her. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? I was fucking normal yesterday!”
She punched him with each shriek. They were girly punches.
He took the hits and stood, wrapping his arms around her. “I know. It isn’t fair to you, but it is what it is. You have woken up, and they are with you. And you were never without them. They were always there.”
She was held until her breathing evened. She patted his chest. “I am fine. The punching is over.”
He sighed. “But I don’t want to let you go.”
She leaned back in his arms and looked up at him. “I would suggest you go home now. I am about to crawl into bed and try to forget today ever happened. Between having my backside grabbed and pinched by guys wanting photos at the convention and then everything else, I really just want to blank my mind. I will see you at work on Monday.”
“What about spending time together tomorrow?” He looked confused.
“I need time. You have already had it. I will see you on Monday. At work.” She patted him again.
He groaned. “Now that you are awake, I don’t want to spend a moment away from you.”
“Tough. Thanks for dinner, now get the fuck out of my house.”
He grimaced. “Fine.”
He let her go and turned to leave, paused, and snagged the notebook with the pages of lists. “I have studying to do.”
He walked toward the exterior door. “You need taller ceilings.”
She snickered and walked with him to the door. He stepped outside and turned, sighing deeply. “I don’t want to leave.”
“I know. That is why I am kicking you out. When I want you to stay, you can stay.”
He paused, “So, I just need to make you want me?”
Serene blinked furiously and tried to backpedal. “What I meant w—”
He kissed her, and it was quick. He winked. “I am crafting a plan of attack. I will present you with my list Monday morning.”
She paused. “What?”
“There are things that you could be doing around the office that you are not. I will make you a list.” He laughed at her appalled expression. “Nothing to break any employee protocols, but I can’t be expected to have you in the same building and never see you.”
“You see me twice a day when you are in.”
He smiled. “See? I am practically starving for a glimpse of you.”
She scowled. “Write the damned list. I will see you on Monday.”
She pulled herself back into the house and closed and locked the door. She was going to spend the next fourteen hours trying to sleep then get up and stalk Lia at the hospital for advice.
Nothing like a Sunday with a plan.
“You’re dating the Boss?” Lia was shocked, and she sipped at her second coffee in twenty minutes.
“I am not dating him. It is... complicated.” Serene muttered and prodded at her rock-solid ice cream.
“It sounds like a date.” Lia smiled.
“It wasn’t a date.” She frowned. “I am pretty sure it wasn’t a date. Almost sure.”
Lia leaned in and said in singsong, “You don’t sound sure.”
Serene put her head down and thumped it on the table. It had to be a cosplay-induced fantasy. The rings were gone now, and the costume was neatly folded and waiting in its case. It was like it put itself away.
“What if I did go out with him? I mean, aside from my career, income, and mortgage being affected, how bad could it be?”
“I wouldn’t thump your head on the table again. Who knows what kind of bodily fluids have leaked out recently? This is a hospital, and though it is primarily labour and delivery on this side, we do get some patients who come for the cinnamon rolls.” She finished her coffee and stuffed the last of her cinnamon bun in her mouth. “Gotta run. I have an incoming patient. Call me and let me know what happens. I have to admit this is very interesting.”
Serene got up and ditched her impenetrable ice cream. She cleared their table and headed to the restroom to wash her hands. Hospitals were not places to go touching things.
She got into her car and got the wheezing monster to leave the parkade. She needed a new vehicle, but after buying the house and paying off her credit cards, she was on the edge of success or failure. She had spent years digging herself out of debt. This was no time do dive back in. If her car could last six more months, she could get a slightly less trashy beater.
She grimaced as she drove the car home after picking up groceries. Pedestrians were starting to stare. She had better find a mechanic that wouldn’t reject her car, like the last two.
She finished her errands and brought her groceries into the house. She organized her food and nuked her dinner. Wearing her kimono, she crawled onto her couch and turned on the television. She spent a night giggling and watching romantic Chinese comedies. The subtitles took some doing, but she was smiling when she headed to sleep.
She had probably blown the entire thing out of proportion. There was no way that any of the stuff from Saturday had really happened. There must have been acid in the sports drink she had been sipping.
Two voices in her head whispered that she was probably overanalyzing things. For some reason, losing her mind seemed the saner option.
Chapter Seven
Her car wheezed its last getting into her parking spot. She heard the death clunk, and she put the car into park. Something more expensive than the entire car had just snapped.
She pressed her forehead against the steering wheel and sighed. “Right. Not helping.”
She checked her purse for her bus pass, and when she found it, she got out, pulling the case from the back seat.
Serene stalked into the building, pressed her access pass to the elevator panel, and stepped into the elevator. Their offices took up most of the building, including the motion-capture stage, but she was on the second floor. Stairs were not her friend in the mornings.
The door chimed, and she stepped out, passing the endless glass offices that housed the managers of the various teams. Every office was dark at this hour. Or, they should have been. The meeting room lights were on. She left her purse and the costume in her office and then went to investigate. Boss was sitting at the table, working on a laptop and making notes.
She knocked on the open door, and he looked up at her, a slow smile crossing his features. “Serene. Please come in.”
She stepped toward him and paused at a respectful distance.
He crooked his fingers.
“Closer.”
She sidled up to him. Three feet away.
He snorted and turned his laptop. “I am sending you the lists. Your list is very specific. The blue items are the ones you have to do every day, the green ones are once a week, and the orange is for Fridays. Everything is business-related and nothing that I can be sued for.”
She grimaced. “Great. What is on today’s list?”
“Morning meeting with me to discuss office status and the plan for the day.”
She nodded. “Why is there another one at noon? I eat at noon.”
He leaned back. “To discuss how things went in the morning. Meals will be provided as we are working on company time.”
She made another face. “And the meeting half an hour before I leave?”
“To discuss how the afternoon went, of course.”
“So, why do I need a last thing and first thing meeting? Isn’t that redundant?”
He shrugged. “Ah, the whims of the Boss. Now, as for the green, those are your times in the motion-capture suit. We are having some of the preview sites vote on the cut scenes that they want.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “And the day just gets better.”
He scowled and leaned forward. “Did something happen?”
She grimaced. “No. I just have to call a coroner for my car. There is no coming back from that sound. So, back to the bus.”
He paused. “Don’t have it towed right away. Let Neil have a look at it. He’s excellent at bringing things back to life. But, he will also know if it is dead.”
Serene nodded. “It is definitely dead. So, what are the orange items?”
He grinned. “Costume fittings. You are in demand. Seeing a life-sized monster queen was something that most local game companies are not providing. My phone was blowing up as to why you weren’t there on Sunday.”
“No. Abso-fucking-lutely not. My ass is still black and blue from the groping. The guards were useless. They were too busy trying to get up the mage’s skirt. I am not doing that again.”
He frowned. “You didn’t mention this on Saturday.”
