“I can try. Just give me the command.”
“Put that out,” he told me.
“And hurry,” Charlie said. “I’ve Seen what Kouros is really up to.”
I glanced at him as I tapped into the Node and sent out a wave of my own Fire. “What did you See?”
“You pregnant, again,” he said, dryly. “But this time I could See what you were pregnant with. Kouros.”
“What?” I said, my Fire faltering for just a second until my jinni kicked in, fulfilling the command I’d forgotten. So I kept blasting even as I turned to Charlie.
“What the hell are you talking about? You Saw me pregnant with Kouros’s baby?”
Charlie shook his head, but the relief was short-lived. “No, not with his baby. With Kouros.”
“What the fuck? That’s impossible! He’s already born, for one. He’s right there!” I pointed to where Kouros was struggling within Trip and Trap’s bonds, Yulia and the spider wraiths still hard at work.
“Yes, but that’s why he really created you. Not to mess with you or your family, as you assumed. He had an agenda.”
“But he’s right there!”
“He created himself once already. Don’t you get it, Lyla? You know the mythology. He’s that jinni. He Called himself into being, just like in the stories. And now he wants to recreate himself again… as Kouros version 2.0.”
“But what does that have to do with Lyla being pregnant?” Oz asked.
“The ritual he’s designed will bind his power and spirit to your flesh, in the form of a pregnancy. But what you’ll give birth to will be Kouros—only he’ll be even stronger. When he created you, he created a supernatural plus, right? Like we’ve talked about—you’ve got all the strengths of your human and jinni side, but all the weaknesses too.
“But what if you’d ended up with just the strengths? That would be Kouros. He’d have the jinni powers, but he’d have been born with a fully human body—so he’ll be unBindable. No Magi could touch him. But he’d have all his original power.”
“So he’d be kinda like Blade,” Oz said, looking to me for affirmation.
“You are such a nerd,” was all I could say to that, my mind boggling at the thought of an unstoppable Kouros. “What is his end game?” I asked Charlie.
Charlie gave me a pointed look. “He’s a jinni Donald Trump, Lyla. You know that. What do you think he wants?”
“The world,” Oz said, before I could form a conjecture.
Charlie nodded. “I Saw the whole thing. He’ll be like a god.”
“Criminy. What do we do?” I asked.
“We’ve got to get you to safety and think about how we destroy him,” Charlie said. “But if we can get you home now, there’s only like fifteen minutes before your curse is up.”
I looked at the door behind the throne. It was so close. But then I looked back at Trip, Trap, and Yulia.
“What about them?” I asked, jerking my thumb back at my friends.
Charlie hesitated, then spoke. “We have to get you to safety. They’ll follow.”
I raised my eyebrows but Oz spoke first. “They won’t get away. The moment they stop, or even slow down, Kouros will kill them.”
Charlie’s mouth thinned. “You didn’t See what I Saw. Kouros’s power will be unimaginable…”
“Then I have to stop him,” I said. “I can’t just walk away from this and let him kill my friends. I have the Node. I can take him.”
“Lyla, it’s not worth the risk. What if you fail?”
“Then Oz can free me. Keep his mouth free. Either I fight Kouros till my curse can be lifted or I die trying. Either way he doesn’t get his way.”
Oz didn’t look happy, but he didn’t argue. “Stay close to the door. Run for the portal if something happens to me,” I told him.
“The hell I will,” he said, coming with me. “Remember, I was a boxer’s son. I grew up standing next to a ring, watching the fights. I can help you.”
I ducked my head so he wouldn’t see the expression on my face. “All right. You ready?”
He nodded and we turned as one, moving to face my ancient foe.
Trip and Trap were still darting around as fast as they had been, but Yulia’s glow had faded and her face was pinched. I touched her shoulder.
“Let me,” I said. “Go protect Charlie.”
“You’re supposed to be getting out of here,” she barked instead. I shook my head.
“This is my fight, honey. Let me fight it.”
She met my eyes, and whatever she saw there convinced her. She stepped back and I substituted my own Fire for her wisps. Then she went to stand next to Charlie, who watched with worried, colorless eyes.
“That’s enough!” I called to Trip and Trap. “He’s mine!”
The spider wraiths paused, glanced at each other, and then sprang apart, dusting Kouros with one last heavy spray of webbing before they skittered around the room only to rejoin, clinging to the ceiling over Yulia’s and Charlie’s heads. Bertha had joined Yulia and Charlie, and they all watched with concern as the bindings holding Kouros began to tremble.
And then they went up in flame, leaving my creator standing in front of me.
“I was willing to play nice,” Kouros hissed at me, his form growing back up to giant size. I pretended to be unimpressed.
“Bullshit. You wanted to pull an Alien on me. Well, I’m no Sigourney Weaver… or I am, in that I’m going to kick your ass.”
“You need a better writer. That was terrible,” Oz quipped. I felt a surge of confidence then. I had my friends, a Master I was pretty sure I loved, and a fuck-ton of power at my fingertips.
“Tell me what to do,” I told Oz, as I hunkered down into a fighting position.
“Use the Node,” he told me. “And go for his midsection.”
I opened my channels wide, feeling a rush of power that dwarfed anything I’d used till then, with the possible exception of freeing Kouros. That power propelled me forward as I rushed at my creator, wielding a battering ram of black Fire that caught Kouros off guard. It hit him square, and he wasn’t able to absorb another jinni’s Fire as he could the force of a human weapon, so it sent him flying off his feet. He landed with a soft plop in a pile of jinni ash, before climbing to his feet.
But I was on him a second later, hitting him with fists made of Fire. I pummeled his face, his chest, his midsection. He pummeled back, a blow that cut through the shield of Fire I’d built around myself, and sent me flying.
I landed with a much harder crash but Oz was shouting commands at me. He got me to my feet, and then I was flying at Kouros again, my Fire lashing out at him like dozens of cat-o’-nine-tails, whipping at the smoke of his flesh, revealing traces of red fire that closed as quickly as they opened.
I was pulling on the Node hard, trying to get ahold of Kouros, wanting to pull him apart like he had those other jinn. But he was huge, and strong, and I couldn’t get a grip.
“Force him smaller!” Oz shouted, and my jinni responded with a wave of brutal energy that encapsulated Kouros’s smoky figure. He had to shrink downward or come into contact with the steel-tainted energy, and that’s when I realized what I had to do.
I kept shrinking him, till he was almost his real size. I pulled even harder at the Node, my channels fit to burst, trying to contain the tremendous energy he used against me.
“I need to be closer,” I gasped, and Oz nodded.
“Walk up to him, Lyla. Get close.”
My jinni rallied, pulling on the Node even as she forced me to stumble forward those critical few steps.
Then I reached Sideways, pulling out my belly dancing swords. Unlike the weapons I’d seen the jinn pull earlier, mine weren’t magical.
They were old-fashioned American steel, and sharp as razors.
I had to drop the web of power I’d created around Kouros, but I did so only at the last second, stumbling a bit as the Node went silent inside me, its power no longer surging through my system.
But I let the momentum carry me forward into a strike as I pushed more power through my arm, bringing it down in a vicious slash that sent my steel sword cutting across Kouros’s smoky belly. A second strike of my left hand, slashing the other way, left a vicious red X across Kouros’s midsection. He looked up at me in surprise, and then what looked like lava began to pour out of his belly. It was his power, draining onto the preternatural marble of the palace, which sucked it up hungrily as it fell.
I could feel Kouros trying to heal the cuts, but the steel was poisoning him. His power ebbing fast, he reached for the only other available power source…
The Node.
The poisoned power hit him like a punch. Kouros crumpled to the ground, his hand held out to me in appeal. I stepped back, my eyes as cold as my heart.
“Lyla,” he said, his tone beseeching. “Help me…”
“Like you did me?” My words hung like bitter fruit in the air.
We watched Kouros die, his fiery innards pouring onto the stone of the abandoned palace, until we heard Charlie clear his throat.
“It’s only a few minutes till,” he said. “You may want to free Lyla.”
“Holy shit,” Oz said, turning to me. And then, without hesitation, he spoke the words of unBinding, his voice low but thrumming with power.
“Setenach, setenach, setenach.” Be free, be free, be free.
I felt his hold over me die as his eyes Flared and then went dim. We were left staring at each other, my brown eyes melting into his silver. I took a step forward and he wrapped his arms around me.
“Lyla,” he murmured in my ear, his breath making me shiver. “Are you ready to be human again?”
“I’m scared,” I admitted. “I’ve been a jinni for a long time.”
“I know,” he said, pulling back to look into my eyes. His big hand cupped my jaw. “But I’m here to help. I have a list.”
“You have a list,” I said, my lips curling in a smile as I felt a sense of peace wash over me…
And then I screamed as the pain hit. It was midnight. My curse was lifting.
With a tremendous whooshing sound, my Fire left me. It flew toward the ceiling like a runaway cloak in a gust of wind, until it dissipated. It left a burning agony behind, as if it had been pulled from its roots deep inside me. I swayed on my feet as the rest of my power leached out, and I felt my body in a way I hadn’t for a millennium.
I was only earth now. No Fire.
I swayed, and I fell.
But Oz was there to catch me.
“Lyla? Lyla?” Oz’s voice was terrified, but he never let me go.
My eyelids felt like they weighed ninety pounds, but after a few false starts I managed to raise them. The bright light of the throne room made me close them again, hastily.
“I’m okay,” I said, my throat hoarse.
“You scared the shit out of me,” Oz said, pulling me into a bear hug. “Again.”
“Mph,” I said, all I could get out with the crush of his arms around me.
I felt other hands on my shoulder, my head, my hair. Yulia, and Charlie, and Bertha, asking if I was okay. Rachel was there, too, looking rumpled, her wig askew.
Oz finally let them pry me from his grasp, and they looked me over carefully. “How does it feel?”
And then I remembered. The curse.
I reached for my Fire, willing it to toss my hair as I liked to do on stage.
Nothing happened.
I did it again.
Still nothing.
“I think I’m human,” I said, raising my forearms to stare at my hands, as if I might find confirmation there.
“Human,” I repeated. Then I burst into tears.
Various hands patted my back and Oz’s arm snaked around my waist.
“What’s wrong, honey? Isn’t this what you wanted?” asked Yulia.
I looked at her, then at Oz, who looked completely stricken. “Did I do the wrong thing?” he asked.
“No,” I said, pulling him into a hug. “No.”
I held him, gathering my scattering thoughts. Then I pulled away.
“It’s just a lot. I’ve been living as a jinni for centuries. It’ll take some time to adjust. But I’m happy. I wanted this.”
“Good,” he said. “I, for one, am glad you’re human.”
I couldn’t resist touching that strong jaw, then the anchor at the heart of his clavicles.
“I’m glad, too,” I said, quietly.
“Get a room!” called Rachel, adjusting her wig. “And give me a hug.”
I hugged all my friends then, thanking them for coming back to me. Even Trip and Trap allowed an awkward embrace, but they said nothing to my whispered “Thank you.”
Since they couldn’t eat Kouros, though, and he’d been very dangerous, I could only assume they’d come back because they actually liked me. If only a little bit.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said. “If I never see this place again, it’ll be too soon.”
“What should we do about Tamina’s entourage?” asked Oz.
I swore. I’d totally forgotten about them.
“Why don’t we let Trip and Trap let them out,” Charlie said. “After we have a chance to pull down the gate behind the throne room after us. There’s no reason they can’t live Sideways, where they can’t prey on humans. There are enough encroaching fodden for them to eat.”
“That’s perfect,” I said. “I really didn’t want to have to send the Exterminators after them. They’re still only children. Well, they look like children. When they’re not lunging at people’s throats.”
“They’ll be our secret. And they’ll be a good deterrent for anyone else trying to set up shop here.”
I met Oz’s eyes as Charlie talked, and I felt my cheeks growing red.
“Ye gods,” Yulia said, “they’re like schoolchildren. C’mon, let’s walk ahead and leave the lovebirds alone.” She started for the door behind the throne and the others followed, Rachel giving us an indulgent smile.
Oz took my hand, his finger stroking my thumb.
“You must be exhausted,” he said.
“I’ve felt better,” I admitted. “But I’m okay. I’m human.”
“You are.” Another gentle stroke across my palm, making me shiver.
“You’re not my Master anymore,” I told him.
“I most certainly am not.”
I tugged on his hand, pulling him to a stop. Then I pulled him to me, and raised my face to his.
The kiss he gave me was gentle as a butterfly’s wing, just a brush across my lips. Then another, and another, and then he went in for a real kiss, his lips parting mine and his tongue tasting, gently. I sighed, leaning into him.
His hands moved from my back to my waist to my butt, cupping it gently and pulling me even closer. I wound my own arms around his neck, my fingers in his hair, my mouth opening wider against his…
When we came apart a few minutes later, we were both panting, our eyes dilated with lust and my knees, at least, trembling.
“Take me home,” I told my former Master. “And make love to me.”
He dipped his lips down for another kiss, but pulled away before it could get too intense.
“Your wish is my command,” he said, with a wink.
“And then I want you to show me this list you made, of things to do once I’m human.”
He grinned. “We’ll have already crossed off my number one priority by then.”
I laughed, slinging an arm around him as we started walking toward the door.
“What’s number two?”
“Repeat number one a few dozen times. And then get you a Social Security number. I don’t suppose Purgatory offers health insurance or a 401(k)?”
I groaned, made a joke about sticking with number one on the list for at least a few days before moving to other numbers, but I stopped him when we got to the little door that led to Tamina’s Bridge Sideways.
I didn’t say anything, just held Oz’s hand as
we surveyed the chaos of the throne room. Ash was everywhere, and Tamina and Dmitri lay crumpled in a corner. We should probably bury them, but I really couldn’t be bothered. And I never wanted to return here, if I could help it.
Finally my eyes settled on the dark shape of Kouros huddled on the floor. He had, despite himself, saved me from what probably would have been a short, abusive marriage ending in my own death either at the hands of my husband or in childbirth. He’d also given me a thousand years on this earth and powers I’d never dreamed of. But he’d betrayed me, and taken away my humanity for a while, until I’d been able to reclaim it for myself.
He’d been something in my life, and now he was lifeless on the ground. His body growing cold…
His body.
Fuck.
His body.
“Oz, run,” I shouted, just as Kouros raised himself on shaking limbs. An oozing trail of bright red fire still leaked from his slashed stomach, but he had enough juice in him to point a finger at me.
“I curse you, Lyla,” he said, in the ancient language of the jinn. “With my dying breath I curse you. May you be a jinni until my revenge is enacted, my death for your life, the curse of my last blood.”
Then he lifted a dribble of his Fire to his lips, power surging out of him in a blast that reverberated through the room, catching both Oz and me and hurling us through the door and through the gate that waited just behind it.
I felt a curious numbness as we tumbled Sideways over the Bridge, landing with a thud on a cold tile floor.
Oz came tumbling after me, face-first, and he probably would have broken his nose again if I hadn’t caught him.
With a thick rope of black Fire.
We stared at each other, him floating above me, held up by my magic.
“Here we are again,” I joked, weakly. “Curses.”
Then I set him down and started crying.
Chapter Thirty-Two
On the third day, Yulia had had enough.
“You stink,” she said, using her wisps to pick me up by my armpits and set me on my feet. I tried to crawl back into my bed but she wouldn’t let me.
“Shower. Now,” was all she said, as her wisps carried me in front of her toward our bathroom. I struggled weakly, but didn’t have the will to fight her.
Jinn and Juice Page 28
