“It is something closer to home.” Thaksin shot a wary glance toward the shrouded villa. “Citlalli, your sister told me of a young nagi woman who resides here named Nyssa.”
“Yes,” I said uneasily. “She has been with the family since she was a child. Her father was a political dissident in Thailand so she had to flee for her life.”
“Ah.” Thaksin paced back and forth. “You see, I inquired about her Were tribe at a recent meeting of elders. She was not one of my folk, and I thought her black scale color unusual for our region. The elders agreed with me.” He stopped and looked at me gravely. “Citlalli, my territory’s serpent folk only have scales that are the gold of the sun, the silver of the moon, the green of the jungles, or the turquoise of the sea.”
I bit my lip. “That is strange, but there must be some explanation. Nyssa is such a close family confidante, and surely all kinds of naga exist. The Elder Life Spirit Kadru has violet scales.”
“True,” Thaksin agreed. “Nyssa may be concealing her true identity for a security purpose.”
I nodded, relieved. “That’s probably it. I mean, she’s pretty powerful. Are your folk immune to the Celestial Dragons’ elemental powers like she is?”
Thaksin froze, and the olive tones of his inner Were deepened. “What do you mean, Citlalli?”
I folded my arms defensively, aware of Wolf’s cold nose burying close. “It’s just something I remembered Raina telling me. During the Final Trial, the Fourth Spirit Guardian showed her a strange vision of Sun Bin’s childhood that Raina has been trying to figure out. A long time ago, Sun Bin acted like a brat at the dojang. Nyssa tried to make her leave, and Sun Bin accidentally shot her with ice. Nyssa shrugged it off as if it were nothing.”
The color had evaporated from Thaksin’s face by the time I’d finished speaking.
“Citlalli,” he said softly, “there is only one entity immune to power of such heavenly proportions.”
The wind switched directions, carrying with it the howl of danger. I whirled around defensively back toward the villa. Shadows crawled across the ground as if drawn to the flashing neon lights, and all three Buddha statues put up their hands to cover their eyes. Fear built inside my chest, and I almost didn’t hear Thaksin whisper:
“A god.”
Chapter 62: The Yeouiju’s Curse
~Citlalli~
I only had time to spare Thaksin an agitated goodbye. Then I bolted back to the waking world, kicking up from the depths of my unconsciousness as if swimming through a thick current. When I awoke in Ankor’s room, my head was spinning and my heart was thumping in overdrive.
“Citlalli.” Ankor rose, guarded. “Are you well?”
“Where is Nyssa?” I demanded, brushing sweaty hair from my forehead.
“She went to bid Heesu goodnight—”
Shoving him aside, I ricocheted my way down the hall. Bile built up in my throat, and I had to rest against the stairwell. Dizziness descended on me as I gazed up the sleek chrome steps. Something was terribly, horribly wrong—
“What is the matter with her?” I heard Sun Bin ask her twin.
Ankor shrugged. “I don’t know. She received a warning from a friend in Eve—”
“Citlalli?”
The pounding in my head stopped. Slowly, my gaze traveled up to where Nyssa perched at the head of the staircase. She stared down at me in pity from beneath thick lashes. Her wavy black hair cascaded down to the waist of her silken pajamas.
What, exactly, are you going to do? Demon asked contemptuously. Accuse the Winter Dragon’s lover of being a goddess? Wouldn’t the Dragon King have noticed an immortal living under his nose?
Of course he would have. My forehead throbbed with renewed incessancy.
“Heesu set for bed?” Sun Bin asked awkwardly as the silence stretched.
“Yes, Mistress Sun Bin.” Nyssa’s curious gaze continued to fixate on me.
“I-I just have something to give her,” I stammered. Slowly, I ascended the staircase. As I passed Nyssa, I stretched out Wolf’s senses. She smelled the same as she always did, of sun-ripened spices and lotus blossoms, but now—
I froze on the step. A tug of power, of infinite possibilities, was within Nyssa’s possession. I recognized it immediately. Now that the Yeouiju had revealed itself, every Were couldn’t help but be drawn toward the well of gravity it exuded. It was an alluring invitation to be spliced into a million pulsating particles and then shot into the nexus of creation, shaped and formed into something else entirely…
“Nyssa,” I asked slowly, “how are you holding the Yeouiju?”
Her back stiffened. I was aware of the tension in her muscles as her slender neck rotated.
“Citlalli, whatever do you mean? Are you feeling well?”
“The Dragon’s Pearl.” My face was on fire, and I was aware of Ankor and Sun’s incredulous stares. “You have it. I can hear it whispering…inside your pocket.”
Nyssa gave a high, tinkling laugh. “Mistress Citlalli, I think you need to lie down. You may not be fully recovered from the war.”
“Yes, come down, Citlalli.” Ankor shot a worried glance at Sun Bin. “We can set you up in the guest room.”
I lunged for her left pocket. Her right hand snapped up to seize my arm with supernatural speed. Slowly, I looked up to behold a flat, remorseless face with eyes narrowed into fiery emerald slits.
“Nyssa,” Sun called nervously, “what are you doing? Release Citlalli and show her what’s in your pocket so we can be done with this.”
Suddenly, Nyssa smiled. “As you wish, mistress,” she said with a mocking bow to Sun.
The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air. I smashed into the metallic coil of one of the serpent statues winding around the colonnades.
I leaped to my feet as Wolf, just in time to see Nyssa shimmer and reappear as a long, sinuous black snake with ears. Smoky arms pooled from her sides, and then she revealed the Yeouiju, clenched in a death grip by the half-manifested hand of the Summer Dragon.
Heesu’s hand.
This time, the nausea overcame me and I let it.
Sun Bin stepped forward to block the base of the staircase, stunned. “I don’t understand,” she whispered. “What are you doing, Nyssa?”
The shadow serpent laughed as smoke peeled off her scales like mist drifting across the surface of a glassy black lake. “Oh, dear lover,” she sneered, “this is something I have dreamed of ever since your father imprisoned me in this pretentious mansion, cursed to serve your family for as long as he drew breath. It is a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Eobshin.”
“The goddess of wealth?” Ankor took a step back, wary. “No. That is impossible. The gods are gone. They are just old stories to tell around the holidays.”
“The gods were locked away,” the serpent goddess corrected. “When the Vampyre Queen Maya began to take over Eve, we Korean gods banded together to stop her. The dragons were our faithful servants who fought for us and tended the seasons as we directed from the heavens. However, as the people’s faith in us waned, so, too, did our reign weaken. The dragons began to look down upon us. Then your father rose to power.”
She drifted toward the hall, where a large portrait of the supremely commanding Yong Mun Mu gazed down with inscrutable eyes while the waters of the East Sea lapped at his boots. “Your father had big plans for Korea and becoming the sole Celestial Dragon, ruler of the serpent folk. He grew up in another time marred by war, turmoil, and poverty. He believed following the old ways would only lead Korea to ruin. So Mun Mu made a deal with Maya. She would not harm the serpent folk or spread her kingdom to the mortal world. In return, she would lock away the gods who would challenge his rule. She imprisoned us within the twilight realm of Eve. We would be neither a part of the mortal world nor the heavenly land of the gods. And thus, Eve fell to the Vampyre Court with your father’s blessing.”
Sun Bin was already shaking her head before she’d finished. “You’re lying. T
his is insanity. Who are you, Dark Spirit, and what have you done with Nyssa?”
Eobshin’s mouth widened in a smile. “Child, I am her. But I am more. So much more. I was your father’s rival for the Yeouiju at the renewal of the age.”
My heart dropped. I remembered Raina’s hushed words about the Final Trial and the fate that had befallen her father’s previous contender, the shadow imugi.
“Your father feared he could not defeat me fairly, and so he framed me so I would fail. He told the Fourth Guardian that I had stolen one of his treasures, the fickle Serendibite Scepter. Since I was the goddess of wealth, the Fourth Guardian wasted no time to condemn me when it mysteriously appeared in my possession. Net even gave the Scepter to your father as a reward. However, Mun Mu was the true thief and used the Scepter to catch the Yeouiju. When the Dragon’s Pearl saw what he had done, it tried to resist capture by releasing the majority of its power. Whatever your father has now is a pitiful version of the true omnipotent orb.”
“This is madness,” Ankor hissed, veins throbbing in his forehead.
Eobshin waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, no. The true insanity was your father’s insatiable ambition. Why lock a wealth goddess away with the others when he could shackle her to his lair and use her to generate wealth? I create prosperity for the homes I visit. Your father couldn’t figure out how to kill me, so he used me to amass the fortune he needed to build Yong Enterprises. When I became too volatile, he imprisoned me within the frail mortal body of that young refugee Nyssa and cursed me to serve his family’s every whim until his last breath.” She flexed her coils and rose up toward the ceiling, smiling. “And oh, my dear children, it appears that day has finally come.”
Sun Bin’s look of dread deepened. “What have you done to our sister?” she whispered through bloodless lips.
For the briefest moment, I thought I saw sorrow flicker in Eobshin’s eyes. “You already know,” the shadow imugi whispered.
The horrifying realization staggered the twins and brought them to their knees. I knew it was the moment the serpent goddess had been waiting for. I raced to block her path, but Eobshin dissolved into black smoke and rippled toward the doorway.
Stop! I screamed in my head.
Suddenly, the floor curved up to wall off every exit. I turned to see Ankor rise to his feet, his face a mask of grim determination. Tears froze on Sun’s cheeks as she joined her brother, encasing the metal with ice to prevent the goddess’s escape.
Eobshin laughed as the twins approached. They pummeled her with interchangeable bolts of arctic fury and twisted metal.
“Very good,” she murmured before turning spinning table legs into gold and icicles into glittering diamond swords.
I had to warn the twins: Eobshin wanted them to tire themselves out. I shifted back and cried: “She is invulnerable to your powers!”
Ankor halted, frustrated. Sun Bin responded by launching into the form of a skeletal, wintry beast with no mercy in her gaunt eyes. She tackled the shadow serpent.
Eobshin hissed. She was still chained to a mortal body; physical assaults could do her harm. The pair crashed across the great hall of Yong Villa, flattening sofas and shattering vases. Sun was a skillful fighter, but the goddess disappeared time and time again, as slippery as smoke. She reappeared to fasten her coils around the Winter Dragon’s throat and then pulled. Sun sank her teeth into the armored black scales, but her strength was fading. Eobshin’s cool reptilian smile grew.
“Release her,” Ankor ordered, shaking with the effort to control his inner Were.
The serpent goddess cocked her head. “Why don’t you join us, princeling? Your sister could use your help.”
“Ankor,” I whispered. We shared a pained look, the three shards of our respective souls twirling before our eyes like brilliant star clusters spiraling toward collision.
“Go for the Pearl,” he said and then shifted.
The energy dragon was as magnificent as I remembered, but he began sparking almost immediately. My feet tingled as volts of electricity shot through the metallic floor, and Sun Bin hissed in pain. Eobshin watched with calm confidence as the imploding Autumn Dragon staggered.
Abruptly, Ankor lunged. The laser-hot intensity of his scales melted Sun Bin’s ice. Eobshin fought to cling to Sun Bin, but the Winter Dragon was able to slip away.
I inched forward from behind toward the tightest coils of her tail, within which I could see the Yeouiju gleaming. Eobshin reared up to simultaneously attack Sun Bin with her fangs and Ankor with her tail. The Yeouiju was exposed. I darted for it.
“Not so fast!” With lightning swift reflexes, the goddess of wealth whipped about at the last moment to strike me down. I gazed up in fear as her emerald eyes pierced me with the certainty of death. I could hear Ankor and Sun yelling as if from far, far away.
I raised my right hand and called the kumiho fire. It ravaged up my arm with brilliant blood-red vengeance, and I screamed as I felt the last of my arm wither away into a charred stump up to my elbow.
But then Eobshin’s cries joined mine.
Black smoke receded into her serpent form, and the goddess reappeared as the young Thai woman who had once been Nyssa. Despite the blistering pain from what remained of my ashen arm, I managed a shaky exhale of release. The Celestial Dragons had been blessed with elemental powers because they had once served the gods.
I was pretty damn sure a certain irrepressible nine-tailed fox never had.
Behind the tussled black hair hanging in her face, Nyssa spared us a smile full of barred teeth. “Fine. This is what you want?”
She held the Yeouiju high. I realized at the last second what she was about to do.
Sun bellowed and dashed forward. But it was too late. Nyssa’s eyes flashed green, and then she shattered the Yeouiju upon the floor.
Chapter 63: Goodnight, Seoul
~Citlalli~
The Dragon’s Pearl was broken.
A snatch of conversation from past days of sunshine floated through my head: “If the yeouiju falls unclaimed, then it breaks upon the earth, showering it with curses. And then evil spirits of famine and pestilence run rampant.”
Oh, Mun Mu, I thought desperately, where are you? Have you truly drawn your last breath, as Eobshin said?
“No!”
The air was darkening around where the Yeouiju had fallen. Wolf’s senses felt a deep tremor run to the core of the earth. Yet I could still pick out Sun Bin’s human form kneeling beside the limp body of Heesu. The godly struggle had caused her bedroom to collapse into the heart of the great hall.
Sun Bin looked up at Nyssa and said in an eerie voice full of awful promise: “This is the second time you have broken my heart. The third time, I shall destroy yours.”
“It is hard to hurt what one no longer has. I used to bring prosperity. Now I shall bring ruin,” the snake goddess replied softly and then receded into the dark.
The shadows were cascading down the walls like silent waterfalls. I backed up, unable to see even with Wolf’s senses. All I was aware of was the dead weight of my right arm. “Sun? Ankor?”
Claws gripped my upper shoulder, and suddenly I was soaring. I looked up and there was Ankor, still stubbornly clinging to his energy dragon form.
“Ankor,” I whispered, “you’re flying.”
The living shadow beast gazed down at me with his pulsating eventide eyes, but for once, they calmed as if I were peering into the heart of a storm. The neon streaks reverberating through his wings blinked like the lights of a plane, guiding us through the gale. Out of the thickening mists ahead, a pale dragon with creaky honeycomb-patterned wings rose, cradling the broken body of her sister.
We touched down in an alley bereft of shopkeepers. Ankor approached an abandoned shawl stall and silently handed me a robe. His hand lingered a moment longer on my ruined arm.
“It will be okay, Citlalli,” he muttered. “The blind boy who heals. He will help you.”
I blinked back tears at the l
ifelessness that immobilized his tone. There were some things Taeyang couldn’t heal.
Ankor draped a second robe around Sun, who hadn’t stopped kneeling beside Heesu.
“Sun,” he whispered, “that wasn’t Nyssa. You must believe that. She has to still be in there, somewhere.”
Sun Bin’s hair draped her face, leaving only her heaving shoulders visible. “I-I don’t care,” she choked out, her fingers clawing the pavement. “Because whatever that thing was, it killed our sister!”
She began to strike the pavement, bloodying her fingertips, and she only ceased when Ankor took her into his arms.
I spotted a phone on the stall counter. Struggling to halt the waves of successive shivers, I fumbled to call home. There was no answer. My eyes clouded again, but I forced myself to stay calm and dial Yu Li.
She picked up on the third ring. “Citlalli.”
“Alpha.” The air darkened, and it became harder to see. I didn’t want to see the Yong twins kneeling beside their fallen sister’s body. In the fading light, Sun Bin cupped Heesu’s face, her gaze dead and unreadable. Ankor shook in place, his fists clenched at his sides as if he were afraid of what might come clawing and screaming out of him.
I didn’t want to look back the way we had come, at the hole. But if I didn’t, then it would eat us alive.
We had to get to safety now.
Yu Li’s voice sharpened. “Citlalli, what’s wrong?”
“It’s broken.” My voice grew smaller. The darkness was eating it. “Alpha, the yeouiju has shattered…in the heart of Seoul.”
Emptiness on the other end of the line. I couldn’t even piece together an image of Yu Li in my mind. Lost. On my own.
Howls slammed against my ears. It was Wolf, crying for me to wake up. I forced myself to focus, to hear Yu Li say:
“Beta, you must be strong. Call the troops to Namsan Tower. We will need every last shapeshifter from here to the East Sea if we are to survive the night.”
Year of the Dragon (Changeling Sisters Book 3) Page 39
