The demon seemed to have been caught off guard. It tried to float away more quickly, but it could not. It drifted left and right, but Akari was able to predict its movements. She cut the demon quickly across the chest, then the abdomen. The creature screamed in pain.
“Sakura! Sakura,” it yelled, but the smoke seemed to solidify. It turned thick and black like tar before melting to the ground.
Akari looked around, but there was still no sign of the woman the enenra had been dragging. “Where did she go?” Akari asked.
“I don’t know,” Takeo said. “She seems to have…vanished…”
“Shit,” Akari said. “But what made her vanish? Was it the enenra? Or a zashiki-warashi? Or…or still something else? Why does it seem like every step closer we get only leads us down another winding path?”
Takeo shook his head. “I don’t know. But we should keep looking around here. Maybe we can still find her.”
Akari looked up at the sky. “The light is nearly gone.”
“Then we better search quickly,” Takeo said with a nod. “We need to leave this place by dark.”
“We should split up then,” Akari said. “Cover more ground.”
Takeo hesitated, but then nodded and headed down a row between the metal structures while Akari went straight.
She walked quietly, but quickly. They needed to cover as much ground as possible before it was too late. Akari rounded a corner, catching sight of a small smoke creature darting away from her.
“I see one,” she called to Takeo.
The creature was fast, too fast! It was getting away from her. Suddenly, Takeo appeared at the end of the row. Akari spent half a second considering how he could have gotten there so quickly, but when the creature saw Takeo, it quickly turned back to her, as if it forgot she was there. It shrank back when it saw her, but it was too late. By the time it turned back to face Takeo, Akari was right behind it. She quickly ran it through with her still-glowing sword, and it melted to the ground in a puddle of tar.
“Where there are two…” Akari panted.
“There are going to be more,” Takeo completed for her. She nodded. “Still no sign of the missing wife.”
“Let’s keep going,” Akari said. “If we can kill more creatures, we might have a chance of finding her.”
Takeo nodded, and then headed down another side path. Akari turned in the opposite direction. She moved stealthily, but then felt a chill down her back. She glanced up to see the sun had nearly set. They were almost out of time.
“Itami,” Akari called for the missing wife. “We are here! Where are you?” She listened and heard a strangled scream. She ran toward it, but still could not see anything. “I’m here,” she yelled, but there was no reply.
Takeo ran up to her. “What are you doing?” he asked in an angered whisper. “The enenra will find us.”
“All the better,” Akari said in a normal voice. “We are out of time!”
Takeo held up his hand to quiet her. He was looking down at their feet. When Akari dipped her head as well, she saw what he was staring at. Smoke was seeping out of the metal structure they were standing next to and entwining around their ankles. Takeo reached down, and then gripped the handle to lift the door. Akari nodded, and he thrust the door up.
Akari’s glowing sword lit up the inside of the structure. In the middle of the room collapsed to the ground were two women.
And they were surrounded by a dozen enenra.
6
The smoke demons raised hazy heads at Akari and Takeo, and then opened their mouths in silent screams. Akari stepped back. One demon at a time, she could handle. But so many all at once? She hesitated and shot a look at Takeo. While she could technically light any weapon with her blood, it would fade and return to normal as soon as he took it back. He could not fight with a Sword Kissed weapon against a demon.
Akari tightened her grip on her katana and prepared to advance. If she went down, at least she would take a few of the monsters with her. As darkness fell, the smoke demons became harder to see. If Akari was going to fight them, it would have to be now. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to let out a yell, but she then heard several battle cries come from behind her.
She swung around to see several of her fellow Sword Kissed running toward the metal structure, their illuminated katanas held aloft. As they charged the demons, Akari joined them. The creatures knew they had lost and tried to escape the structure, but the Sword Kissed blocked the exit, and the rest of the structure was air tight. Even their formless bodies of smoke could not escape. As the Sword Kissed swung their weapons through the hazy forms, the smoke eventually cleared, and all that stood in the structure were the people with physical forms.
“Are you all right, Akari-chan?” her friend Kaya asked her as she sheathed her sword.
“I’m better now that you are here,” Akari said, gripping her arm. “What are you doing here?”
“The woman you met on the road,” Kaya explained. “She made her way into town and told us what happened. When Sera-sensei heard you were heading out to the village on your own, she thought you would need the support of your sisters. The village chief told us you had come out here.”
Akari nodded. “It is good you came. The past encounters had only been with one creature at a time. I did not expect there to be so many here.”
Kaya laughed and slapped her arm. “That is what you get for leaving me out.”
“Believe me,” Akari whispered. “I wish Sera had made you my partner instead.”
“Akari-san!” Takeo called from across the room, and Akari blushed. She hoped he hadn’t heard her. Twisting toward him, she saw he was crouched over the bodies the enenra had been hovering around.
She walked over to him. One body was of a middle-aged woman. The other was of a younger woman, but on her face was the distinct port-wine stain the old mother from Hashikami village had drawn on her daughter’s picture. Takeo shook his head.
The girl’s eyes were open, but they were black, empty, soulless. Her life force had been completely drained. Takeo reached out and closed her eyelids. He then placed his hand to his mouth to hide his emotions. She had the feeling he had seen this before.
Kaya came over and stood behind Akari. She gasped. “What the hell happened?” she asked. “Enenra do not do this.”
Akari nodded. “Enenra simply choke their victims, like normal smoke. This is not an enenra attack. And where is the wife they stole from Yahakami village?”
“So what are we really dealing with?” Takeo asked as he stood. “What is using magical beasts to steal humans and fae and then draining them of their life force?”
Akari shook her head. She had no idea, and she was not looking forward to finding out.
That night, the villagers asked the Sword Kissed and Takeo to stay as their honored guests. It was too late for them to travel back to the city, and the villagers were still afraid of the enenra. Akari wanted to stay as well and see if she could learn more about whatever they were supposed to be hunting.
The man whose wife had gone missing was the village chief, and his name was Ichiro. He hosted a large dinner in the communal hall and sat next to Akari, but he was obviously still distraught and did not speak much. The entire gathering was subdued. It was hardly a night for celebrating. The chief’s wife had been killed, along with the girl from the other village. Elwin’s parents were also dead. Akari suspected that anyone who had gone missing was probably dead.
But they weren’t just killing or transforming people into demons. They were draining their life force. But why? And who would have the power to do this? Akari shook her head. She had no idea. She decided to try and talk to the chief, either to get more answers or to distract herself from the gravity of the situation.
“Tell me more about your wife, Chief Ichiro,” Akari said. She bit into a delicious freshly caught fish.
The side of Chief Ichiro’s mouth twitched up. “We grew up together,” he said. “We have s
pent nearly every day of our lives together. We went to school together, then married young. We have three small children of our own.”
Akari nodded, dipping her head to survey her food. It suddenly tasted like ash in her mouth. Everyone they knew of who had gone missing were well-loved in their communities. She tried to remain distant from her work. Emotional attachment made the job too hard. This was one of those times she wished she had not asked for more information.
From across the room, she heard a laugh. She saw Endo smiling and enjoying the company of two young men. Akari shook her head in disgust. How could Endo be so rude as to flirt after what they had just seen? But at the same time, she envied her. Wasn’t that why she had spoken to Chief Ichiro right now? As a distraction? Akari was cold, but Endo was an iceberg. Nothing fazed her. Right now, Akari wished she could stop caring enough to focus on what she needed to do next, but her mind was whirling. She needed to get out of there.
Akari pushed away from the table and stood. She gave Chief Ichiro a bow. “I will go patrol the edges of the village. Thank you for your hospitality.”
He gave her a nod back. From across the room, she caught sight of Takeo watching her. She quickly averted her eyes and headed out of the hall.
She stood in the light of the bonfires that had been lit around the village. The people were—understandably—afraid of the dark, so they had done their best to create as much artificial light to get through the night as possible. Akari watched the shadows the flames created dance and sway across the ground and buildings. She was trying to see if any dark movements were unnatural, something she should be on guard against, but the more she stared, the more blurred her vision became. The dancing shadows threatened to lull her to sleep even as she was standing. She shook her head and walked through some of the village dwellings, away from the fires and toward the beach.
The moon was bright and full, and it shone down on the waves that gently lapped the shore. She took in a deep, cleansing breath and slowly exhaled.
“It is not safe…” a voice said. She drew her sword and spun around, bringing the blade down and stopping it right at the tip of Takeo’s nose. “To be out here alone,” he continued, his eyes glued to the blade, but he did not even flinch.
She pulled her sword back and sheathed it. “It is not safe to try to sneak up on a Sword Kissed either,” she said as she turned back to the sea.
He took another step and stood next to her. “What exactly is a Sword Kissed?” he asked.
“As darkness filled the world, the light of one woman shone—” she started to recite, but he interrupted her.
“I know that,” he said with a chuckle. “I have heard the stories, the legends, the same as anyone. But I have never met a Sword Kissed until now. How would you describe what you are?”
Akari licked the salty sea spray from her lips before she spoke. It was always difficult to try to explain what being Sword Kissed meant to her.
“It is like being full of light in a dark place,” she finally said. “As if I could hold the whole world in my arms and make everything better…yet knowing you can’t.”
Takeo gave a slow nod.
“It is hope and fear, happiness and sadness, love and betrayal rolling inside of me all at the same time,” she continued. “It is as if I am always at war with myself because something—some integral part—is missing that would bring peace and balance.”
“So it is not the presence of something special, but the lack of it?” Takeo asked.
“In a way,” Akari said as she rubbed her arms, suddenly feeling chilled. “No one knows the true origins of the Sword Kissed. Have we always been? Were we created for a singular purpose? Did we just…appear out of the ashes of the Great Divide? Are we human? Are we fae? Are we…something else?” She shook her head. “There are only questions, and so few answers.”
“You think the Sword Kissed could be fae?” he asked. “I have never heard that before.”
“My parents were human,” Akari said. “I know they were. And Yoshimi is human. Every Sword Kissed has human parents. We are human, but we are also something more. But if we dwell on what that something is, it could lead to…problems.”
Takeo nodded. “You mean you don’t want to risk humans casting you out and treating you as badly as they treat fae.”
Akari gave a sad nod. “Something like that.”
“What about you then?” he asked. “If you have a bit of an inkling about what it means to be discriminated against, why do you not do more to help the fae?”
Akari felt the hairs on the back of her neck bristle, but she tried to calm them down. It was a fair question, and one she had wrestled with herself, but one so complicated she preferred to not try to answer it.
“I do what I can for all people,” she said. “I protect humans and fae from the monsters in the world. When I look at Yoshimi, I know I could do more. I admit that. I…” She sighed. “Anything I say to try to justify myself will only sound like an excuse. So I’ll not insult you by saying anything.”
Takeo gave her a smile. “Thank you for your honesty,” he said.
Akari smiled back. “Will you be honest with me?” she asked. He nodded. “You are half fae and half human. What must that be like? Are there more families in Ryu like yours?”
He chuckled. “There are a few,” he said. “But it is not easy. There are many people who think we are unnatural. No better than the demons who seem to grow stronger every day.”
He bent down and picked up a seashell, running his fingers over it to knock the sand loose.
“I know the hate and fear that exists between humans and fae all too well,” he said. “But I also know love can exist and overcome all that. My parents loved each other very much.”
“Loved?” Akari asked, but the word nearly caught in her throat.
He gave a small, single nod, but he did not continue.
Akari turned back to the sea, deciding not to ask for more information. She could see there was pain in his face behind his words. For the first time, she could see through his carefully crafted mask. She reached into her pocket, and then pulled out the flier for Vesaris Torgwyn. She handed it to him.
Taking the flier, he examined it affectionately. He ran his fingers over the soft parchment.
“I didn’t say goodbye,” he finally said. “I was helping Mother with the dishes. He said he was going to check the horses. I think I grunted or said okay or something stupid and then went back to stacking plates. And that was it.”
He paused for a long time, and Akari didn’t push him to continue. She just waited.
“It wasn’t until after I had already gone to bed when Mother knocked on my door and asked me to go check on him,” he said. “He had never come back in. I didn’t even notice! What kind of son is that?”
“You didn’t know,” Akari said. “You couldn’t have.”
“But I should have been more attentive,” he said. “I should have been a better son. I should have said goodbye. Should have noticed when he didn’t come back.”
Akari wanted to try to comfort him, but she knew nothing she could say would help. He blamed himself, and it didn’t matter how reasonable it was he shouldn’t, his grief was something he was going to have to work through on his own.
“The last thing I said to my mother was ‘don’t forget to sew my skirt,” Akari said. A weird chuckle escaped her throat. “What a stupid thing to say. By the time I got to the hospital, she was already gone. When I got home two days later, the skirt was lying on my bed—the hem perfectly repaired. I never wore the damn thing again.”
“I’m beginning to see why Sera-sensei put us together,” Takeo said with an ironic laugh. “We are quite a pair.”
“Did you…” Akari paused. “Sorry, this is really insensitive. But did your father…was he like the women we found today?”
Takeo nodded. “It’s not insensitive. It’s pertinent to the case. And yes, he was like them.”
“So what does it all m
ean?” Akari said with a sigh. “The demon isn’t just killing, but it is draining the life force from humans and fae. Why?”
“When we catch it,” Takeo said. “We can ask it.”
Akari let out a small laugh, probably the only genuine one she had let escape her chest in weeks. She had to respect his optimism.
7
The next day, Akari, Takeo, and the rest of the Sword Kissed spent most the sunlight hours patrolling the woods, the beach, and the ruins around Yahakami village. They found no other signs of any enenra or any other rogue demons. With a solemn nod, Chief Ichiro acknowledged they had done all they could for the village for now.
“If we learn anything new,” Akari said with a bow, “we will return.”
“May the Light bless you,” Chief Ichiro said with a bow. All the other villagers had also gathered around them, and they all bowed in unison as the group mounted their horses and rode out of town.
Kaya trotted up next to Akari. “So, what is the next move?” she asked.
“I am not certain,” Akari said. “We stopped the enenra for now, but we didn’t learn anything new. We just have more questions. I’m not sure where to look next or how to protect people from another demon attack. So far, the attacks seem random. I feel like all I can do is wait for the next tragedy.”
Kaya nodded and clicked her tongue at her horse to keep it walking straight. “What do you think, though?” she asked. “Did you see that woman’s eyes? I felt like…like I was falling into them. I can still feel it.” She shuddered.
“Yeah,” Akari reluctantly agreed. “I do.”
“What do you think it means?” Kaya asked.
“I don’t know,” Akari said. “Can you think of any creature, any legends, that talk about sucking someone’s life force out of them?”
Kaya shook her head. “Not that I know of, but I can head to the archives when we get back. Maybe something there will jog my memory.”
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