by DB Reynolds
Kato didn’t seem to mind. He bared his teeth in a wild grin, and the fight was on. They fought grimly, intently. There were no insults flung into the battle, no promises of death or retribution. Just two powerful creatures trying to kill each other, muscles bulging as they each tried to force the other to give way, their blades stabbing and parrying, deadly edges screaming as they met and slid to the sound of clashing hilts.
Grace could barely breathe. Her eyes were too slow to follow every move, but quick enough to see the ebb and flow of the battle, to register every deadly strike that made it through. Kato was bleeding, his bare arms nicked in too many places, the short sleeves of his shirt sliced and diced until there was more skin showing than shirt. He sucked in his flat gut and narrowly missed being disemboweled, while the demon kept pushing, trying to force its way out of the corner, its eye falling on Grace, and the doorway she guarded, more often than not.
Kato had warned her—above all things, the demon wanted her dead. But it also wanted to escape. Going through her would achieve both of its aims. But she couldn’t let that happen. Not because she might die. There was far more at stake here than her puny life. The demon had already murdered at least two people, butchering them in their own homes. It couldn’t be permitted to remain in her world, even if the price was her life.
Kato didn’t think her gun could stop a demon, but he didn’t know modern weapons, and he didn’t know Grace. Her gun was more than just a pretty accessory, and she had a full magazine that said she could kill the thing.
Guess they’d find out who was right.
Without warning, the demon spit, launching a long, iridescent trail of venom her way. Grace spun, protecting her face, ducking down and moving away from the metal door, which now bore a sizzling scar that could have been her skin.
When she turned back, she saw the acidic spittle had creased Kato’s arm where he’d moved to intercept the attack, and Grace almost screamed. She didn’t want him hurt protecting her. She could protect herself; she could kill if it came down to it. Experts always said you didn’t know whether you could kill until it happened, but she knew because she’d already done it. It wasn’t something she talked about, not to her parents, not even her closest friends. But she would kill to protect the people she cared about. She would kill to protect Kato.
The demon had dismissed her again, focusing all of its attention on Kato’s wickedly fast blade work, straining to deflect thrust after thrust with its one remaining arm. Grace fancied she could see the creature weakening, its energy being exhausted between the loss of an arm and the never-ending battle.
Taking a chance, she crouched down and quickly moved even farther away from the door, shuffling sideways until the rumbling elevator shaft was right next to her ear. The demon caught her movement. Its gaze shot to the now-unguarded door, and it hesitated, leaning away from the battle as if torn, and giving Grace a clear shot. Remembering everything she’d ever learned about hitting a target, she lifted the gun in both hands, sighted swiftly, and fired three quick shots. Bam, bam, bam.
The demon screamed so loud and high that Grace had to cover her ears. Black blood and other matter was gushing from the gory hole that had been the creature’s eye. It swiveled its head in her direction, fury filling its remaining orb, as it aimed a deadly stream of venom her way.
Kato called out a warning, a roared protest, while attacking the demon with a series of lightning-fast strikes. But Grace had anticipated the demon’s reaction and moved in the same moment that she fired a second volley, rolling on the filthy floor until she was shoved into a corner between the elevator shaft and the rumbling motor.
The demon shrieked furiously as the second round of bullets hit home, tearing into its chest and damaging the muscles of its good arm. The creature swung its head from side to side, its attention torn between battling Kato and taking vengeance on Grace, the little human who’d hurt it so badly. But Kato didn’t give it time to do anything but defend itself, his blade a blur of moon-touched black, a deadly shadow that gleamed like diamonds in the dim light. Seeming to recognize its peril, the demon made one last, desperate break for freedom. Its gruesome blade slashed at Kato’s left side, and he responded with a parry that crashed against the demon’s blade with a metal screech that belied the magical nature of their two blades. They disengaged, and Kato stepped right to avoid the demon’s return thrust, but, as if the creature had planned for the move, it turned away from Kato and spat a targeted stream of its deadly venom directly at Grace.
It all happened so fast.
Grace saw the danger, saw the demon’s neck tighten as it prepared to expel its lethal spittle, saw the yellow stream arrowing toward her face like a toxic lance. She let herself fall to one side, knowing it was too late, that it wouldn’t be enough. That it wasn’t a question of whether the venom would hit her, but where.
And then she could only scream.
KATO SAW THE demon turn its vile attention on Grace, and his rage exploded. Gripping his black blade in both hands, he whispered a word he hadn’t used since he’d stood on a battlefield in another world with Nico and his brothers. He roared as magic was torn from his soul, as it flooded his blade until his muscles strained with the effort to control it. And in the moment that the demon loosed its attack, as the first drop of venom left its lips, Kato swung his blade. It slid through the creature’s neck—skin, tendons, and bones—so efficiently that for a moment, the head still sat on the demon’s shoulders, nothing but a thin line of dark blood to say that Kato’s blade had ever been there. And then, with a shriek that found its echo in the minions of hell, the demon was gone, sucked into the swirling vortex that opened beneath it like a storm, dragging the unholy creature back to the endless torment that was its fate. It gave a final scream as the vortex closed over its head, a scream that seemed to ricochet through the room. . . .
Kato spun. That final scream hadn’t been the demon, it had been Grace. And she wasn’t screaming any longer. She wasn’t moving at all.
Cursing viciously, he slid his blade into the sheath down his back and dropped to his knees. Barely able to see for the darkness, he hissed out a word, ripping more magic from his soul as light flooded the room. He would pay for every ounce of magic, every word, every spell that he’d cast today. The price would be staggering, the agony a hot blade in his gut, a fist around his heart. But he didn’t spare it a moment’s thought. He reached for Grace where she lay huddled in on herself, curled into a protective ball, as if that could save her from the demon’s attack. Lifting her carefully, he pulled her into the light. There were surface burns on her clothing, splotches and dots where the venom had dripped. He turned her farther, gritting his teeth as charred strands of her braided hair crumbled at his touch when he cradled her to his chest.
“Grace,” he murmured, holding her tightly as he cupped her jaw in one gentle hand.
Her lashes fluttered a moment before her eyes opened wide, and she screamed, bucking against his hold, her hands and arms flailing as she pounded his chest, his neck, trying to get away.
“Grace, stop,” he said firmly, tightening his grip, not wanting to increase her pain, but not wanting her to hurt herself either. She grew abruptly still at the sound of his voice, not even breathing as if waiting for some confirmation of who held her captive. “You’re safe. The demon is dead, its body banished forever. You’re safe, amata,” he repeated.
She sucked in a shuddering breath, her pale eyes glittering as she stared up at him. “It spat at me,” she whispered.
“It missed,” he said, stroking her smooth cheek, trying not to shudder himself, as he thought of the damage the deadly venom could have done to that soft skin.
“I saw it coming,” she said, with another shudder. “I knew it was going to hit me. I knew I couldn’t move fast enough.”
“But you did,” he murmured. “How do you feel?”
“Okay. My head hurts a little, and it feels kind of odd, like—What?” she asked, dread filling the
word as she caught the look on his face.
Kato grimaced. “The creature missed its target, but the venom hit the box behind you, and some of it was cast back into the air . . .” He ran out of words just about the time that knowledge dawned on her face. She sat up on her own, his arms falling away as she reached up and patted her head, searching.
“I can’t be burned, I’d feel it,” she muttered, talking to herself, reassuring herself. But then her questing fingers touched the shriveled end of her braid and she gasped. “My hair!” she cried. “That son of a bitch burned my hair! Do you know how long it took me to grow it that long? And how much work I put in to taking care of it?” she demanded. “It was perfect, and now it’s . . .”
She sighed through her nose, her lips pinched into an unhappy moue. “I know what you’re going to say. That I’m lucky it wasn’t worse, and to count my blessings.”
“That’s not at all what I was going to say. I was planning something more along the lines of—” he raised his voice until he was shouting, “—what the hell were you thinking?” She winced and he lowered his voice deliberately. “I told you to stay back, to shoot only if your life was threatened—”
“Your life was threatened. That was good enough for me,” she snarled defiantly. “I don’t know what the women were like where you come from, but in my world, we don’t sit back and wring our hands when everything goes to hell. We fight for what we believe in, and we damn well fight for the people we care about.”
Kato tilted his head curiously and gave her a long look. “Do you care about me, Grace?”
She blinked, taken aback. “Of course I care about you! What kind of a question is that?”
“A straightforward one, I thought. Come on.” He stood, pulling her with him, bracing her while she found her feet. But then suddenly, he was the one stumbling to remain upright, crashing against the metal wall as Grace wrapped her arms around him, keeping him upright.
“Kato! What happened? Are you hurt?”
He gritted his teeth, thinking to make the room stop spinning. It didn’t work. He cursed the Dark Witch for the weakness she’d laid upon him in her fury that he was leaving her. “It’s the magic I used,” he ground out, forcing himself upright. “A curse from the Dark Witch. When I draw too deeply on my magic . . .” He left the rest unsaid, the result obvious in his current pathetic condition.
“You should have said something,” she scolded. “I know you’re big and bad, but you just fought and killed a demon for fuck’s sake.”
Kato knew they had to get out of this place before someone happened upon them. He’d never been above asking for help from his fellow warriors, but he’d grown too accustomed to having Nico’s protection against his mother’s spell, and hadn’t thought before taking on this demon. It was a mistake he wouldn’t make twice.
“Take your time,” she soothed. “Rest a minute.”
“It’s not necessary. It’s the price of my magic, and one I’m accustomed to paying. Besides, we don’t have a minute. Your authorities will be down here soon enough. They won’t have heard the gunshots over the noise of the motor. But even if we haven’t damaged their equipment, the demon’s death will draw them unwittingly. Their instincts will be prodding them to check this place, and we don’t want to be here when that happens.”
“Well, shit. Then what do we do about that?” She pointed at a small, shallow puddle of slimy, yellow fluid slowly eating away at the concrete floor.
“The venom in that is nearly spent. By the time they get here, it will be a mystery, but no longer dangerous. Step carefully for now, however.”
“You think?” She did an exaggerated high step over the shrinking puddle, still holding on to him, her arm around his waist, his arm heavy on her shoulders. The need to get out of there was pressing on him, becoming more urgent with every second that passed.
“We’ve got to go now, Grace.”
“I was going to ask where we’re going—beach or condo—but I don’t think you’ll make it down the street to the car. So, condo it is.” She staggered slightly as she maneuvered him through the doorway. The thick metal door clanged shut behind them, and they started up the first short stair flight. “Is it okay for you to stay in the building? No bad vibes or anything?”
Kato considered it. The demon had killed two innocents here. Their deaths had been brutal, their terror still resonating against his senses. He thought about the pure tranquility he’d found sitting on the deck over the beach of Grace’s parents’ home, and he longed to return there. But they needed to locate the third demon, hopefully before it started killing, and that meant tracking down Grace’s mathematician friend.
“Have you heard from your friend? The one with the third scroll?”
She shook her head, then patted her pocket and drew out her cell phone. The screen lit up and she tapped it a few times. “Nothing yet. He’s probably at the university, but we may have to run over there in person. Sometimes he gets involved in a project and sort of tunes out the world.”
“Is the university closer to here or the beach house?”
“The beach,” she said, surprising him.
“We’re going to the beach house then.”
She grimaced. “You can barely walk, bud. Will your magic thingy be enough to get us across the lobby unnoticed?”
He winced at her choice of words, but didn’t have the energy to protest. “I can do whatever I have to,” he said through gritted teeth.
They reached the door to the lobby and paused to catch their breath. Grace was straining under his weight and trying not to show it. It had to be too much for her slender frame; he was too tall and too heavy. But they had no choice.
“Remember,” he said, glancing down at their torn and bloodied clothing, “hold on to me and stay close. We’re just two people going out after a hard day’s work.”
She laughed a little at that, as he’d hoped. It was a surprised snort of a laugh, but he’d take it. “They got the hard part right anyway.”
“Is there food at your parents’ house?” he asked, as she opened the door to the lobby. He’d hoped to distract her from worrying, but it was also a serious question. He was going to need red meat to recover from this.
“Lots. My mom’s cook keeps the freezer full.”
“Can you cook?” he asked as they limped toward the big glass doors that led to the street beyond, every straining step a drain on his remaining energy.
“Why, because I’m a girl?”
“No, because it’s your mother’s kitchen,” he managed to answer, his jaw tight with effort.
“Oh, yeah, well, no. I don’t cook much. I mostly zap stuff.” It was her turn to grunt as she pushed open the heavy door, then walked him over to a metal bench just outside. Squinting in the sunlight as she took in the many uniformed personnel who were still ignoring them, she patted his shoulder. “You’re really good at this.”
“Yes,” he said simply. There was no need to explain why he was so good at it, no need to talk about the years of training, the torturous exercises and cruel punishments he’d endured as a child, and then a young man. He could admit now that those years had given him the strength he’d needed to survive as an adult, not only to serve the Dark Witch, but to fight at Nico’s side, and, now, to keep Grace safe.
“You’ll be okay while I get the car?”
He smiled at that. He’d just fought and defeated a powerful demon. And she was worried he couldn’t handle the local police authorities who had no reason to pay him any attention at all. Well, apart from the blood and gore splashed liberally over his skin and clothing. But he could keep his magic thingy going until he and Grace were safely on their way back to the beach.
“I’ll be fine. Take your time, and they’ll pay no attention to you.”
“Right.” She lingered for an indecisive moment, then deposited a quick kiss on his forehead and hurried down the walkway to the street.
THE DECISION TO rest at the Malibu house had been a
practical one, but the moment the iron gate closed behind them, Kato felt an easing in his soul. He was born of the desert, but it was the ocean that spoke to him in this new world. His entire body relaxed as Grace parked the car and rushed around to help him.
His car door opened, and she was there, squatting down next to him, one hand resting on his thigh. He cracked an eye open, gazing down at her delicate, pale hand so close to his groin. The sight evoked all sorts of erotic fantasies, and his body noticed. He moved quickly, before Grace noticed, too.
“Can you walk?” she asked, her pretty face scrunched with worry.
He winced. “And if I said ‘no?’ What would you do then?” His voice was rough with a pain that he would never share with her. She didn’t need to know the cost of his magic, the legacy of the Dark Witch’s anger.
Grace clicked her tongue in exasperation. “I’d probably just leave you here to sleep in the cold car, for being a pain in my ass.”
He chuckled, trying not to grimace as the movement hurt something deep in his chest. His lungs probably. They were still rebuilding themselves. “I can walk,” he rasped. “More or less.”
She stood abruptly. “Let me get everything opened up, so we can walk straight through. I’ll be right back.”
Kato leaned his head back against the seat, eyes closed, one hand resting on the black blade, where it lay propped against his left leg. He hadn’t used this much magic since long before Sotiris had cast the spell that trapped him. Once he’d joined with Nico, his sorcerer brother had used his own considerable power to nullify the Dark Witch’s curse on her son, so that no matter how much power Kato used in battle, it was never enough to trigger the curse. Unfortunately, Nico was no longer around. Or if he was, he didn’t know that Kato had been freed from his stone prison. But, either way, Kato’s choice had been simple. He could avoid pain by not using his magic, in which case Grace would die in agony. Or he could save Grace’s life and suffer the consequences. There’d been no choice at all, really.
Hurried footsteps on the gravel drive warned him Grace was back a moment before her fragrance teased his senses.
