by Maribel Fox
Despicable.
I saved them. Their pet.
Arguing now is pointless. I am hungry and my rations are gone. But if she thinks I am going to follow her around like puppy on leash, like Ocho and Maal, she is in for a surprise.
18
Iseul
Waking up is like coming back to the land of the living after a long bout with the flu. Everything hurts, and even though I’m pretty sure I’ve been asleep for countless hours, I’m exhausted. The mattress under me is drenched in sweat, and I crawl out of bed shivering, feeling… strange.
I don’t remember how I got back to Brigid’s. I don’t remember a lot from last night, to be honest.
But one look in the mirror shoves away any thought of the past.
“Oh no,” I cry, a desperate strangled sound clawing its way from my throat.
What am I?
I’m a hideous monster.
This is worse than I ever thought it could be.
This is… it’s a disaster.
Before this birthday, I had three forms: Iseul — a devilishly attractive young man with a smile charming enough to get away with murder — a cute fluffy fox, and a very handsome — albeit larger than life — viper. That was it.
Nothing like… this.
I’m some horrid half-human half-fox thing, standing on two legs, my body covered in fur from head to toe. I’m still a fox, but not fluffy and cute. Now I look rabid. Nightmarish. I have long, razor-sharp canines that gleam in the light, huge fluffy ears big as pancakes, creepy blood-red eyes — nowhere near as inviting as my normal yellow ones — and that’s to say nothing of these long, deadly-looking claws or the nine tails swaying in concert behind me.
I’m overcome by the sudden urge to smash the mirror, but I know that’s not going to change what I am. It’s not going to fix that I’m a hideous beast now.
It takes some focus and concentration, but I managed to shift back to my normal form, putting away fox-demon for now — hopefully forever, if I can find a way to ignore the cravings.
Hell of a birthday…
Shit.
The events of yesterday go crashing through my mind, each memory worse than the last.
Asking Micah for a birthday meal, the whole plan for celebrations we had.
I missed the whole thing.
What. A. Jerk.
Then, running into the woods, that desperate need for running water. Sitting there, alone, in the cold, in agony while I fought the transformation. Wondering if I’d make it through the process alive.
Ku came. Ku. He said… he said that I’m part dragon.
That can’t be right. All those years I spent with my father, while he tried to pound every possible lesson of fox-demonhood into my brain, surely he would’ve mentioned something like ‘you’re only half fox, and that viper trick — yeah that’s gonna be a fun surprise later. Rhymes with flagon.’
I can’t be a dragon. Ku’s mistaken.
Ugh. I obviously need to get out of bed and go talk to some people. First Micah, to apologize for being such a cad and missing my birthday dinner. Then Ku, to explain to him exactly how much I am not a dragon.
But first, a shower.
The sweat clinging to my body still has a distinct… gamey smell, and it’s not something I can ignore. If I can smell it, there’s no doubt others would as well.
The shared bathroom is down the hallway from my room, and thankfully it’s unoccupied. There’s at least two other guests here besides myself — Ku and a woman I’ve only seen in passing — so the odds weren’t great, but I’m a lucky guy.
Normally.
When I’m not dealing with unwanted fox-demon transformations.
The water’s hot as it streams from the shower head, filling the room with steam before I even step in. The jets pulse and pummel my body, working out the stiff soreness left behind by last night. I close my eyes to enjoy the moment, and when I’m feeling real good and relaxed, it happens.
I start getting flashes. Like clips of a show I’m not watching, only I know… I know her, at least.
It’s her after all. But she’s not in pain this time, not lying enticingly on the picnic table. She’s with others — I see the wolf, recognize him from before he left here. He must have made it to Hell, then. And he found her?
It’s not just him though. There are two other guys with her, and they’re eating, talking, laughing at times. One of the guys is stereotypically good-looking, blond, blue-eyes, rugged All-American type. But it the other one… The one that’s draped in shadows with the haunted look in his sage green eyes. He’s hot in that damaged kind of way that I never seem to be able to resist.
The visions don’t focus on any one of the four for long, but when I find my attention on him, or the woman, I try to hold onto it as long as I can before it slips away again.
Seeing them all together raises a whole host of questions, but that’s not the only thing it’s raising… I look down, my dick hard and seeking out the objects of my desires. But they’re far, far away. And I may never have a chance with either of them. I groan, trying to will the erection away, and when that doesn’t work, I finish my shower and get out as quickly as I can.
Shake it off, Iseul, I tell myself, remembering what my mission was before the shower visions: apologize to Micah. Find Ku. Shake him endlessly.
After I get dressed, I head down to The Shamrock, finding Rue behind the bar.
“Hey sleeping beauty. Ready for a little hair of the dog?” she asks, eyebrow raised. It’s near dark, so I know I must have slept through the night and the whole day. I could snap back that I’ve been through a lot and don’t need the snark, but it’s just lingering crankiness from the transformation talking.
I like Rue. There’s no need to be a jerk.
“I’m not here for a drink. Is Micah around?” He’s generally in the bar’s kitchen this time of day, prepping meals and snacks for guests yet to come.
“’Fraid not,” she says with a frown. “Everything all right?”
“Do you know where he is? I missed the big dinner he planned for me and I feel terrible. I want to apologize.”
Rue shrugs. “He left a couple hours ago. But don’t worry too much about it. We still had your fancy birthday dinner without you,” she says, grinning.
“What?”
She shrugs again. “Ku told us you weren’t feeling great, that you were having some magical… complications and weren’t fit to leave your bed. If anyone gets dealing with weird magical shit, it’s those guys, believe me.”
I frown, struggling to wrap my head around this new development.
Most Fae Courts would treat such a slight as akin to an act of war. I’d have to be watching my back everywhere I turned for someone seeking vengeance.
But that doesn’t seem like the case here. I think I might be okay, as bizarre as that feels.
“Seriously, it’s no big deal,” Rue says encouragingly. “Are you feeling better?”
“I don’t know… I suppose,” I mutter, not sure what to do with myself if I’m not on a mission to apologize to my hosts.
“That’s good,” she says, nodding thoughtfully as she arranges bottles behind the bar. “I’ve got a friend that makes some really handy potions and stuff if you need some relief in the future,” she adds, setting the wheels in my head turning. Not for long, though, since the door to the outside opens, Ku walking in purposefully, his eyes locked on me.
“Is! You’re up. You’re… you!” he adds, grinning. “I was hoping I’d find you.”
“You were? Well… fine. But I need to talk to you too!”
“Oh? Sure, but let’s talk while we walk,” he says, waving for me to follow without more explanation.
I look to Rue, she shrugs, I shrug back, and fall in line behind the big guy. I did want to find him after all. But as I open my mouth to start yelling about ridiculous dragon conspiracies, he beats me to the punch.
“I’ve been doing a lot of reading since yesterday,
and I think I’ve stumbled upon something that might help us.”
“Us?”
He doesn’t acknowledge my question, barreling on without heed. “I believe we may be able to purposefully speak to the woman from the dreams through the dragon telepathy network — and I think that might be how she’s projecting to us in the first place.”
“Hold up buddy. You keep going on about this dragon stuff — we need to hash that out. Because I am one hundred percent not part dragon.” As I parse the rest of what he said, I realize something else. “And wait, I never told you about a woman in my dreams!”
Ku stops and turns, leveling a hard stare at me. “You one hundred percent are part dragon. You think I can’t identify one of my own kind? Rude.” He pauses for a moment to sniff and look even more affronted. “I know about the woman because I’m not stupid — you had a visible reaction every time I mentioned her. Besides, the three of us were in shared vision together….”
“What?! I don’t remember that!”
“You were distracted. It was yesterday, after I found you at the stream.” Ku turns forward and starts walking again. “You were in a lot of pain, which I think may have triggered the vision. That’s what gave me this idea actually — that we could reach out to her.” He’s talking so fast that I barely have time to register everything he’s saying..
I give up on arguing with him though, because I am curious. “Okay fine, I’ll humor you. What’re we doing right now?”
“I think if we focus hard enough, we might be able to reach out to her. It should be easier if we go to the picnic table where she appears in our visions. Give a signal boost, so to speak.”
“Uh…” I’m at a loss. I’m still not even sure I want to encourage any of this dragon stuff in me — not that I’m admitting he’s right about that. Haven’t I got enough going on without that adding on to it? Coming to terms with my Kumiho side is going to be challenge enough without there being some dumb dragon nonsense as well.
But Ku’s like a dog with a bone. He’s so damn excited about this thing he thinks he’s figured out that I can’t just shut him down. I don’t have to encourage anything to humor him and go along with it.
I am curious, after all. How could I not be? There’s a beautiful woman out there appearing in our dreams, and he thinks she needs our help.
Should I tell him about seeing her with the others while I was in the shower?
As we’re heading out to the forest where the picnic table is — over damp, cold grass, and fallen leaves that seem to be in never-ending supply — I’m suddenly put on alert by the presence of another. My fox pricks up, aware, analyzing the threat.
“Hey guys!” Ian says, bursting through to the path from the direction of the pond he’s always loitering around. He’s begun a mini-menagerie of Fae creatures that I’m surprised the Queen tolerates. He is her little brother, though. I’m sure he has more leeway than most.
“Hello, Ian,” Ku answers with a smirk. I haven’t spent a ton of time with the kid other than when he comes into the diner with his friend, but I know he asks a lot of questions. It’s the kind of thing that would drive me crazy — why do you need answers to everything? Some things just are — but not Ku. Ku’s a teacher at heart, and I’ve seen him patiently answer question after question about dragonhood and different spells he knows when the kid gets going.
“Whatcha doin’?” he asks, eying us both. One guy on a walk through the forest isn’t anything. Two is obviously something.
“Conducting an experiment,” Ku answers, still walking, his long strides impossible for Ian’s short legs to keep up with. He’s jogging to stay between the two of us — I’m not making any real effort to keep up. I’ll get there when I get there.
“What kind of experiment? Are you gonna blow stuff up?”
“Let’s hope not,” I mutter.
Ku doesn’t acknowledge that.
“I have a theory about contacting a person who is in another realm,” Ku says simply.
“You wanna call someone?” Ian asks.
I snort.
“Essentially, but it isn’t that simple because of where they are,” Ku answers, still patient as ever.
“Where are they?”
“Hell,” I answer, ignoring the look Ku sends over his shoulder. What? It’s not like the kid doesn’t know about it. His sister’s hooking up with a Devil and a couple of Angels. He’s not oblivious. On the contrary, Ian seems to know just about everything that happens in this area. I don’t know if it’s intentional on Ava’s part to have the most unassuming spy collecting information on everyone’s actions in her domain, but I’m sure it’s helpful to the new Queen.
“Really?” Ian asks excitedly. At this point, we’re at the clearing with the picnic table that looks so familiar, but also… different. Every time I’ve been here in the dream world, the weather’s been bright and sunny, warm and lovely.
It’s cold and overcast now, almost dark, and the trees are practically bare.
Better than on fire, a voice reminds me.
Very, very true.
Ku sits at the picnic table, and Ian joins him on the same side. I sit on the opposite side, not sure what we’re going to be doing here.
“Yes,” Ku finally says with a sigh. Whatever hopes he’d had of keeping pertinent information from Ian are out the window. “There is a woman trapped in Hell, and we think she may need our help. She visits our dreams, but we’re hoping to talk to her on purpose this time.”
“Do they have animals in Hell?” Ian asks. There’s no doubt about where his priorities lay.
“Of course they do,” I answer, drawing another look from Ku for my continuing distractions. He’s got to know at this point that I’m not fully on board with this dragon stuff.
“What kinds?” he asks, eyes big, blond curls bouncing as he cranes his neck around to look at Ku — he knows where the book knowledge is.
“Oh, there are all manner of creatures in Hell. Cockatrices, basilisks, manticores… Hellhounds of course—”
“Hellhounds?” Ian asks, perking up. “Is that like a puppy?”
Ku makes an uncertain face, then shrugs. “I’m not sure if they have a term for a young Hellhound, but I suppose it would be accurate to call it a Hellpuppy, yes.”
Ian’s got a look to him that would worry me if I were responsible for him. Since I’m not, it’s pretty amusing to watch his mind work on how to acquire such a thing for himself.
“We should focus on the task at hand,” Ku says finally, looking up from Ian, across the table at me.
I shift uncomfortably in my seat.
“I don’t like this… I don’t like what I’m becoming, man,” I say, not wanting to delve too far into it with the kid here, but Ku knows the gist of it.
“You’ll grow into your new skin with time. And I am here to assist you in any way I can,” he adds, surprising the hell out of me.
I’ve been around for a long time. I’ve interacted with my fair share of dragons in the past, and they’ve all got the same infuriating ideas about dragon superiority. Dragons are the best — if you ask a dragon, at least. A lot of creatures feel that way about their own kind, but dragons typically take it to another level.
There’s a reason there aren’t many of them left. They thought they were too good to co-mingle with the rest of us, so when the humans wanted to hunt them all down, no one came to their aid.
But Ku’s not like other dragons I’ve met. He doesn’t have that arrogant pride radiating off him. And when he offers to help, it seems genuine.
“The Kumiho legend is fascinating,” Ku says, his voice picking up in excitement. “I had been focused on your other half and didn’t look it up. Do you know about the ‘fox marble’? Or that you should be able to shift into a beautiful woman now?”
I grumble. I don’t want to think about it. All those powers are related to fucking with people. The yeowu guseul is used to steal peoples’ energy. And transforming into a sexy lady? A met
hod to trick young men into making themselves vulnerable so I can eat their heart and liver.
Uh… Yeah, no thanks.
I’m trying not to turn into a murderous monster.
“That’s to say nothing about how fascinating your dragon transformation is. I’ve never seen anything like it. You—”
“Ku, man, can you not? I appreciate it, I appreciate you doing all this to learn about me and my powers and stuff, but… I don’t wanna think about it or talk about it anymore if that’s cool with you.”
He frowns, his face collapsing into disappointment. Great, now I feel like even more of an asshole.
“Let’s get to work then,” he says, removing himself from the table to lay on the ground in the cold, damp grass. “Come on,” he says, waving me down to the forest floor with him. Ian doesn’t hesitate of course, even though he’s not part of this, and so then I feel like making a stink about it would make me look ridiculous.
“What are we supposed to be doing?” I ask as the cold seeps into my back, a chill spreading through my body.
“Just focus on the image of the woman, and the idea that you want to talk to her,” Ku says.
Without having any idea what I’m actually doing, I do as he says, not expecting much.
19
Lili
“That’s it, up ahead,” I say, nearly sagging with relief. It’s been a long journey through the city, and getting from the Demon circles up to the level where my parents’ house is without being spotted was a lot harder than getting out of the prison.
Probably because we were trying not to leave a trail of bodies in our wake.
Or… most of us were.
Dima seems quite bloodthirsty, but it’s something I admire in him. Too many people are squeamish about doing what needs to be done.
The Estate of the Seven Flames has always been a grand, palace-like affair. A huge U-shaped building, lined with windows and statues, gilded cornices, and grounds overflowing with lush vegetation.
