Year of the Rat, page 46
part #4 of Changeling Sisters Series
I shifted back to human form and then ventured into one of the cells. Tattered robes were scattered on the cement, smelling of urine and mildew, but I put one on anyhow. There was also a half-eaten bowl of food.
I gingerly picked up the bowl. I sniffed it and immediately wished I hadn’t. Zombie flesh.
The heat of the Firebird warmed my back. She was still in control of Mikhail’s body.
“They’re training us to eat them,” I said. “But why?”
To my surprise, Valeriya spoke in Mikhail’s gruff voice: “Let me carry it. We need to go. Quickly.”
I nodded. “Do you know the way?”
“I can find my way out of any cage.” She closed Mikhail’s eyes briefly as if listening for something. At last, she nodded. “Come.”
Mikhail’s body flowing gracefully down the passage would have been funny—if I hadn’t been worried that the damned bird would leave me behind. She moved quicker than water. We ran up two staircases. The Firebird paused to listen at the top of each one before gesturing me to follow.
“Aren’t you going to give Mikhail his body back?” I asked. I knew this Firebird chick was supposedly in love with the Russian captain, but I also knew what it was like to have another piece of yourself in charge. When Demon had taken over, I had watched helplessly as She had cost me my job and my virginity, all of which were now dim memories soaked in an alcoholic haze. I didn’t even know if I could remember the most hurtful things I’d done.
Valeriya glanced at me. I hadn’t thought anyone aside from Khyber had mastered that look of cool aloofness. “I thought, being a Triad yourself, that you would understand,” she said. “I am one of the pieces of Mikhail’s soul. Currently, I am the best one that can get him out of here.”
She gave me another look, one that was not fond. I supposed she remembered me clubbing her during our descent into Ryujin’s kingdom. What she had doubtless forgotten to remember was that she had been strangling me at the time. So Demon glared back.
Unexpectedly, Valeriya snorted. “So this is whom Aleksandr intends to replace me with once I die. A mere child. You will burn out quick with that temper of yours.”
“Then so will Aleksandr,” I said.
“You must never let him get that far,” she responded. “You are the child, not that beast you carry within you. A kumiho is a great and powerful creature who has lived a long time to grow all nine tails.” She glanced at me again as if trying to catch me in a moment of guilt. “They are also tricksters.”
“Couldn’t you stop the Frost King?” I demanded, ignoring the jibe about Demon. “A piece of you lies in Aleksandr, too.”
She didn’t answer, and I nearly ran into her out-flung arm. “Back this way,” she hissed. “Ahead are fearlings.”
We backtracked to the southwest corner of the fort where we finally found a dusty window. We crouched and gazed out. There was a courtyard and two more high walls, but beyond them, freedom.
The Firebird gestured toward my soul channeler. “Can you—?”
I reached for Demon. I managed to turn my palm’s barrel ember-red, but it was nothing like the laser-hot torrent that had erupted with Ankor’s help. Valeriya watched with growing disappointment before raising her own fist. I caught a glimpse of blunt lizard claws hissing with steam, and then she punched our way to freedom.
I hesitated and then inclined my head. “Kamsahamnida. Valeriya, if there’s anything you can teach me before… I mean, I know I have to end you… Well, not you, but…”
“The man I love,” the Firebird finished, “in order to kill the man I hate.”
“Exactly.”
She tilted Mikhail’s head, moonlight spilling down his face. “Seems like a fair trade to me. The problem with too much power, child, is that someone will always want to make your magic their own for reasons that are no more right than they are wrong. My mistake was not to go back to the sun where they could never touch me.”
“Because then you could never touch them.” I saw her raise Mikhail’s hand to his own cheek “You liked something about living among us.”
It was strange to see Mikhail’s face melt into such a sad smile. “You have to know the bad to wonder at the good.”
The gong siren blared again, but this time it was for us. The Firebird gripped the edges of the window, lingering. “Bring them together,” she told me. “Mikhail and Aleksandr. I will try to hold Aleksandr still for as long as I can.” Her smile turned bitter. “Just give me time to say farewell.”
“A fair trade,” I agreed.
“Good,” the Firebird said, climbing through the window. “I have seen the shadows in your eye. After I’m gone, I trust you can do what needs to be done between you and the Crow.”
I paused, my hackles raised as the gong alarm continued to sound. “Excuse me?”
“The life bond. It is imperative that you end it. The crown prince is the Death Gods’ greatest weapon. As long as he survives, you will not defeat them.”
I chuckled uneasily, running a hand through my hair. “What do you mean?”
She stared at me as if I were dense. “You know how to end it. The pair of you must die at the same time.” Footfall echoed, and the Firebird lifted her wings. “Stay here. Earn his trust. You will need it to do what needs to be done.”
“Wait, Valeriya!” I cried, lunging. She was already gone, her fiery wings guiding the husk of Mikhail off over the dark city.
Chapter 58: Black Ice Heart
~Citlalli~
I remained frozen in place for a full minute because first, I was fairly certain I was the only one left with a heartbeat in this place besides a pack of flesh-crazed Weres; second, Valeriya knew very well that I hadn’t been able to make my robotic arm do anything other than light up like a pretty Christmas ornament; and third, because I felt literally frozen. It was so damn cold that the whole concept of fire seemed mythological. My rags that smelled like piss weren’t helping.
We should have just stabbed scaly man again, Demon offered.
True. Then the zombies would have had a distraction to go after.
Wolf wanted out of the suffocating building as soon as possible, and I wanted something to focus on other than Valeriya’s warning. It had never entered my mind as an option, and Khyber had never mentioned it.
I supposed Maya would have never been onboard with ending her own life.
I fell back against the wall, shivering and rubbing my metal arm against my flesh one. The darkness greeted me, but I had survived for so long now in this twilight land that I could discern different shades of night. Usually I found it beautiful; the velvet curtains would hush my mind and whisper of sleep.
Now, however, the dark felt hostile and infinite, a thin veil that couldn’t hide me from the other creatures stalking the night. I allowed Wolf’s senses to drift out and absorb every scent and sound from the floors around me. I may not be the top predator, but neither would I be prey.
Valeriya was damn wrong if she thought I would end my life before I made sure Raina was okay. She didn’t understand. She didn’t have a family. They were a blessing that would make me fight harder and a curse that curbed which ways I could fight.
The vampyre soldiers were stationed outside the prison, unwilling to stand guard inside with the volatile wraiths and fearlings. I slunk to an entry where only two were posted and killed the first one with his own blade. The second soldier shot at me, but I disintegrated into smoky Wolf and bowled him over from behind. He raised the gun again, and my heart stopped for a moment. Suddenly, gleaming barrels poked out of hiding from a million different places. But then my jaws clamped around his wrist in a hold of steel. My robotic arm rose and then crashed down on his face, tearing off his nose, his eyes, and last, his head.
One bite, Wolf begged. Its bony ribs bumped me, blanketed in Demon’s ashes. I hesitated, my ears straining for the sound of anyone’s approach. Then I gave in.
I took more than one bite.
Hurrying to yank on the Soviet boots, combat pants, and thick gloves, I stumbled my way out into the courtyard. Pulling my cap low, I kept my gaze to the ground and shuffled like I’d seen some of the lower class vampyres do. The hypothermic wind lashed at my face, and for once, I was grateful for the thickness of my hair.
I felt stronger now. Snowflakes looped and dusted my shoulders with white glitter, and I inwardly focused on my Lotus pose. With each breath, my heartbeat slowed. I recognized this footpath from the night of the Yeouiju’s Curse. This way looped past the perimeter housing units. In the back were dumpsters large enough for me to jump the wall.
I snuck past the lodge’s tearoom and froze when I caught sight of a silhouette inside. I tasted motes of stringent wintergreen and mint on the wind and hunkered low. Counting to a full ten seconds before my heartbeat was under control again, I raised my hand to rap on the glass. I wasn’t sure what I intended. Did I warn Khyber of his brother’s plan and ask him to leave with me? Or would I only be endangering him further if Aleksander suspected his sympathies for the Were cause?
Or had I convinced myself that if I caught one more glimpse of the Prince of Sorrow, then I would finally know if he was friend or foe?
The door slid open on the opposite end of the tearoom. I dropped back into the dead rhododendron bushes.
“I must confess, brother, there was much speculation about why you had not taken a bride in so long.” Aleksandr’s boots echoed on the polished wooden floors, and I froze mid-crawl. “None of us guessed it was because you preferred the beast kind.”
I heard a tinkle as Khyber set his teacup down. “We have an assault to mount on the Were headquarters in less than forty-eight hours. I thought we agreed not to make a decision about either life-bonded Were until after the attack. What makes you accuse me of this now, Alek?”
A boot tapped impatiently. “Come, Khyber. Let us not dance around this any longer. The Death Gods shared the gift of soul-eating with us. Why, then, have you not turned the Alvarez girl into a Dark Dog?”
“Maybe I do not want a wild animal for a companion,” Khyber retorted, bored and sarcastic.
Aleksandr’s heavy pacing reverberated across the floorboards. “I cannot cover for you to the others forever, brother. She must become one of us in order for us to control her. You heard Eobshin’s account of what happened the night the Yeouiju broke. Now, whether it is her wolf blood or this demon fox spirit, the fact remains: Citlalli Alvarez can hurt the gods.”
Cold sweat broke over my brow. Demon purred, luxurious coils of fire coaxing my heartrate down again.
Wolf’s ears caught the sound of a chair scrape back. “So can I,” Khyber said.
“What if I take this ‘fire demon,’ and then I can hurt them as well? It wouldn’t be the first time. We could rule everything, then. Together,” Aleksandr pressed.
Stony silence fell.
Finally, Aleksandr laughed, bitter. “But do you want to? Do you want anything in our cause anymore? Oh wait, yes. I know what you want, even more than to fuck that mangy weremutt.”
“Alek.”
My face burned. Through my ringing ears, I heard Khyber shift closer, but the younger vampyre prince barreled on:
“The Greater Dark Spirit who cursed you may be dead, but Its masters aren’t. The Death Gods walk Eve again, brother. Hun-Came can lift your life bond and give you the eternal sleep you desire. But only if you give us another god killer. Make Alvarez a Dark Dog and then go meet the only thing you care about anymore.”
The silence stretched. I heard Aleksandr advance, his voice warbling with brokenness: “Just one more girl, Tae. One more death. This is easily within your power. These lonely girls always fall for you. They always smile in greeting to the Angel of Death.”
Finally Khyber spoke, and my heart shattered: “It may be within One-Death’s power, but gods never give mortals what they want. How do I know One-Death will do as you ask, or get Seven-Death to agree?”
Aleksandr chuckled. “Is that the reason behind your hesitation? Or do you really wish to damn us all to the abyss with you? I should have never told you where my soul was. But on the night of our Mother’s death, there it was in your hands. Tell me, how did it feel to hold my soul?”
Khyber spoke, his voice so soft that I had to strain to hear: “It felt…ready to go. Only I could guide it onwards, to find the peace that it never would in the twisted madness that rules our undead lives. It wanted to leave and find the knowledge that we have grown too hardened to absorb.”
“So I can never change. That is your judgement of me,” Aleksandr sneered.
“There is nothing left for either of us here, Alek.”
“There are my people.”
“Maybe they want to move on, too.”
“It is easy to say you know best when you have claimed responsibility for no one. And yet you judge us all in silence.” Aleksandr resumed his prowl, his boot scrapes drawing closer to the window. “Shan’t I make things easier for you to ‘move on,’ Khyber? Change the way she thinks about you?”
An edge developed in Khyber’s voice. “What do you mean?”
“You know very well. I am the Silver Tongue. Perhaps I already have reshaped her thoughts about you.” Someone sat down very close to the outer wall. I heard Alek’s soft laugh. “Ah. That gave you pause. Or perhaps you do not speak because you know that Alvarez bitch is outside, listening to every word we say.”
In two swift steps, Aleksandr had crossed the tearoom and thrown open the window. I was already halfway across the courtyard. I felt the temperature drop, and I veered into the military housing complex before the Frost King could freeze me in place.
“Seize her!” I heard Aleksandr command, followed by the slow, laborious creak of armor as his sastrugi awoke to do his bidding. The alleys on my left and right shook. Two snow golems lumbered into view, wielding double-headed axes.
Wolf barked a warning as the first ax whooshed over my head. I dove and slid across the ice between its legs. I launched into another roll before the second sastruga’s ax thundered down. Howls started up at my back, and I knew Aleksandr had set his wolfpack loose.
Demon, I called as I fled, matter of mutual survival here.
I am not like that cowardly bird who flies away from a fight, Demon hissed, spitting sparks, but this cold place, our weakened body… There is little I can give you.
I knew how difficult that had been for Her to admit. Give me what you can.
Wolf shied away from the flames that sparked up in my hand in a nebula of concentrated power. I sheltered them the best I could while allowing some of the wind to leak between my fingers. The flames grew, expanding to both of my hands. So did the din of the chase behind me.
I spotted my turn up ahead. Praying with all my might, I rammed my shoulder into a groaning tinder beam and then turned, dousing it with fire. The flaming pillar crashed into the snow but continued to burn, halting the pursuit of the vicious white wolves. Their red eyes burned into mine from behind the fiery wall as they backed up, preparing to jump. I pumped my legs for all I was worth and made a mad dash for freedom.
The dumpsters were in sight, half-frozen in icicles. I coiled myself into a jump and then hit, hard, the shadow that stepped in my way. A hand covered my mouth. I was pulled kicking into the dark as the direwolves rushed by.
Khyber’s grip didn’t relax, and I twisted, terror descending on me in beating waves.
“Citlalli.”
“Khyber, no, please! Don’t take me back there!” I lashed at him with what little sparks I had left, but he didn’t flinch. “Please! You don’t understand. I need to save my pack, my family! Maybe there is nothing left for you in this world, but I need to save Raina! Khyber, please!”
“You’re all right.” Fingers trembling, Khyber pushed aside one curl that had escaped from my cap. “He didn’t take Demon from you.”
“I made a deal,” I sobbed. “Please, let me out of here.”
“A deal. Of course you did.” Khyber’s hands fell to my shoulders, and I realized he was smiling. I calmed down and fought to think clearly.
“He meant to take Demon from me back there,” I hissed. “Didn’t you know his plan?”
Khyber stepped closer. “He was not to touch you until after the wolves’ decimation. I did everything in my power to make him believe it was because a second god killer could be useful to our cause. But it is too late now. I lied, and Alek knows it. It is only a matter of time before he knows, before they all know.”
Finally, I stilled against the wall. “Know what, Tae?”
He smiled again at the sound of his original name, and his finger didn’t stop caressing my cheek. “That I care for you.”
His lips touched mine once, as feather-light as the snowflakes falling around us in a deserted alley where only ghosts could see. The space in my head felt eerily still like the blankets of snow around us, as if we were enwrapped in a hidden place safe from the horrors stalking the night. No Wolf. No Demon. I was whole. When his mouth broke from mine, I felt as if I had been kissing black ice, my entire body quivering with dreamlike numbness.
Gasping to warm my lips, I leaned forward. “When?”
“A long time ago,” he whispered back, his black hair intermingling with mine, “I saw a wolf girl trapped in a strange spirit world with her back against the wall and fire closing in on all sides. I thought her dead. But she tamed the fire and used it to burn her enemies. Another time,” he continued, his eyes luminous midnight-blue ice, “she faced an evil immortal queen who wanted to eat her soul. I thought surely this time, she would fall. Yet the girl tricked the queen into eating her own soul. And I wondered at how hard this girl fought for those she cared about.
“Somewhere along the way,” he said, tracing the bare skin he found at the hollow of my collarbone, “I realized that I wanted to be one of them. On Jeju-do, I fell into hibernation memorizing the sound of your heartbeat. One day it changed…when you were laughing and looking at me.”
