bound together

dawn of a new astral age, book one

/

corinn heathers

bound together

dawn of a new astral age, book one

copyright © 2015 by Corinn Heathers

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced without express written permission from the copyright holder, with the exception of short excerpts for review purposes.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and situations are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

act one / bound

dreaming

the black

flowers

mercenary

small wishes

defilement

the white

caffeine

terminus

act two / together

casework

transitions

confession

midnight

effulgence

coalescence

the red

act three / love

answers

tactics

encounter

ouroboros

convalescence

identity

love

acknowledgements

about the author

act one

/

bound

dreaming

Traffic was lighter than I expected, probably because it hadn't actually started snowing just yet. I turned off the freeway onto the exit that would take me home. My apartment complex was right on the edge of the interstate, which would probably be annoying for a lot of people, but it made getting to work easier and the noise didn't bother me much.

Once on the surface streets, I took a right and there was my complex. It was nice enough, I suppose. The best I could afford on my salary. I pulled into the parking lot and killed the engine. A glance at the fuel gauge and battery levels told me that I'd probably need to fill the ethanol tank up soon, a thought that did not fill my heart with joy.

My apartment was on the fourth floor. I decided not to take the stairs as I usually did, mostly because I was just dead tired. It was almost seven, the very beginning of the evening proper, yet it felt like I'd been awake for days on end. These were usually the results of my hour-long counseling sessions once a week. At least I didn't have to work until the day after tomorrow.

I waited for the elevator and stepped inside when it opened. I mashed the button marked “4F” and leaned against the interior wall. My phone chirped in my pocket and I pulled it out to check the notification while the elevator ascended. It was an email from Marisa, a girl I'd been seeing on and off again for the past few months, but it had no subject line. Ominous.

The door to the elevator opened before I could read the email. I stuffed my phone in my pocket and walked to my apartment, unit 409, and tapped my ID card against the silver panel on the locking mechanism. The auto-lock chirped once and disengaged, the door swinging open on its own.

I walked into my apartment and took off my battered leather jacket, tossing it in a random direction. The place was a mess and I didn't really feel like cleaning it up. The small table I kept next to the foot of my bed, where I'd sit on the edge of the mattress and have my coffee in the morning, was covered in crumbs and stray cigarette ashes.

“What a fucking mess,” I grumbled aloud as I took the overflowing ashtray and dumped it into the trash can near the little kitchenette. That was almost full, too. I didn't want to deal with it right now, though.

I took a detour to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of my favorite amber ale. There was a bottle opener on the counter, sitting next to a stack of dirty dishes that I hadn't bothered to clean. I popped the lid on the beer and sat on the edge of my bed, putting the bottle and the ashtray down on the small table while I unlaced my boots.

After I got my shoes off, I lit a cigarette and puffed a bit before pulling my phone back out to read that email. No subject line and from Marisa, who I hadn't seen or spoken to in a week; I had a pretty good idea what was inside the email. I tapped the touchscreen and opened it up, revealing a hesitant and rather overwrought break-up letter.

I sat there, drinking my beer and smoking my cigarette, while I read the letter. It was not easy to read and not because I was especially broken up about breaking up. I had already resigned myself to that after a week of radio silence. It was more because her writing ability was best classified as fucking horrible.

Nothing gained but nothing lost. Marisa was cute but she hadn't been too smart, as the badly-written email so eloquently proved. I wasn't even really sure why I'd kept going out with her after the first few dates other than the socially-imposed need and expectation to have a romantic partner at my ripe old age of twenty-nine.

“That's what you get for using online dating sites, Karin.” I checked the time and realized it would soon be about time for my usual weekly call to my little sister, So-yi. She lived one state down in an upscale subdivision near Portland with her lovely wife, Nicole, whom I didn't really get along with.

I collapsed onto the bed and wondered what I'd eat tonight. I realized I'd just end up ordering pizza from the usual place—there were three empty boxes stacked up near the trash can—and went right to wondering something else. Like why I, the big sister, had such an aimless and seemingly pointless life when So-yi was married, had a house, a bunch of cats and a career she loved.

And here I was, Karin Ashley, freshly arriving at her twenty-ninth year on the planet Earth without a fucking clue what to do with her life. My job wasn't a career. Well, it could be, but I really, really did not want it to be.

I was a security specialist working for the federal government at the Records & Licensing Agency branch office in Seattle. The head security officer, actually, the Grand Poobah of staring at system dumps and access logs trying to figure out which group of internet script kiddies tried to replace all the graphical elements on our website with pictures of grotesquely huge cartoon penises.

That was sarcasm, by the way. My job is actually more important than that, as most of the hacking attempts on the agency were legitimate attempts to steal data. Unfortunately, as these things usually tend to go, the importance of my job was not counterbalanced by the size of my paycheck. I wasn't exactly starving here, but forty thousand a year wasn't what I'd call the big bucks.

Forty grand a year kept me housed, paid my outrageous auto insurance premiums, kept the fuel tanks topped off most of the time and put food on the table. Outside of that, I occasionally would get the chance to go shopping and buy a bunch of cute clothes that I would play dress-up with but rarely wear anywhere nice.

Barring that, I read a lot of books. My apartment had several bookshelves which were stuffed with physical volumes. I had plenty of ebooks, too, but those didn't look as nice on a shelf, probably because they were intangible computer files. Like most people who live in developed nations, I also spent way too much time messing around on the internet. I would even watch television, something that apparently only old people did anymore.

Essentially, I had no life to speak of. Not a social life, anyway.

Marisa wasn't the only girl I've ever dated, but she was the only one in the past year. The whole process of dating was something I loathed. It just drained the energy from me. I was the poster child for “unlucky in love,” except it was more complicated than that. Let's just say that my feelings for my little sister were a bit of a mess, at least on my end of things, and the primary reason why I had weekly counseling sessions.

Complicated or not, I still cared for So-yi a lot. Growing up we were joined at the hip, never far from each other. We were analogous to Very Best Friends, regardless of what other social involvement we might have. When I moved out of the family house and went off to university, our relationship changed, but I still worried about my little sis and called her often.

The “often” started to decrease when she met and eventually married Nicole. I can't say I dislike my sister's wife, but we usually just end up arguing about stupid shit. I'm pretty sure she knows all about, or at least strongly suspects, the one-sided, Karin-sided weirdness inherent in my relationship with my sister.

I sat up, realizing that my cigarette had went out sitting in the ashtray. I picked it back up and re-lit it, grimacing at the taste of the carbonized end being lit again. My beer was still cold and fizzy, though, so things weren't all bad.

I picked up my phone and opened the ordering interface for my favorite pizza joint, tapping the icon that let me repeat my last order, which is what I did basically every time I ordered from them. Variety seemed pointless most of the time. My phone chimed a few seconds later, the instant message letting me know that my order was in process and would be delivered in about an hour.

So-yi would be done with dinner now, I was sure. Early to bed, early to rise, and she and her partner ate dinner like normal people, right around six. I scrolled through my contact list and tapped the address. The call connected a moment later and So-yi's voice came over the line.

“Hello?”

“Hey, little sis,” I greeted her. “How's it going?”

“I'm tired, but otherwise I can't complain.” I could hear the sound of a cat demanding attention with meows in the background. “How's my favorite big sister?”

“Your only big sister, you mean. I'm okay, I guess. I just got in, actually.”

“Aren't you off today?” So-yi asked.

“Yeah, but I had to go out and run some errands and go to a doctor's appointment.” I didn't tell her that the doctor was a psychiatrist. It wasn't that I was embarrassed about needing some help sorting out my head, it's just I didn't want to make things any weirder between us than necessary.

“You should be more active on your days off. I know you just stay at home and read or play around with your clothes or on the internet. You should come visit me! It's just a three-hour drive.”

“Hey, that 'just a three-hour drive' costs me a shitload in ethanol,” I grumbled. “I'm okay usually but I'm not exactly rolling in the dough here.”

“Right, I forgot, you still have that old hybrid you got when you went off to uni. You can't trade it in for a fuel cell EV?”

“It's in good shape and I keep it maintained, but nobody wants to take any decent fucking trade-in value on a burner, even a hybrid.” I stubbed my cigarette out in the ashtray. “The best I could do would be like, maybe four thousand tops. I'd have to get a lithium battery car and those have shit for range.”

I could hear So-yi's sigh on the other end. “They still make those?”

“Yeah, and they still suck. I mean, it's okay if all you do is drive around town and they're loads cheaper than fuel cells, sure. Great cars for little old ladies that never go anywhere and if they do they take the train, but I don't want to be so limited.”

“So you keep the hybrid, even though combustible fuel taxes are going up again.”

“Unfortunately.”

I didn't have to see her to imagine the look she would have given me. “Karin, if you need help you can always ask me or Mama—”

“Look, if I really needed help, I would say so, okay? I mean... it's fine. It's a car, the wheels roll and it gets me places I want to go. I don't want to borrow money to put a down payment on a car that I won't be able to keep up with the payments—”

“I'm not even talking about the car, Karin,” So-yi interrupted. “I'm talking about you. You can't just stay locked up in your apartment all the time and avoid your family. Don't make excuses about cars and fuel taxes and monthly payments.”

“So-yi, I—”

“Damn it, Karin, let me talk. I'm worried about you. What happened with you and that girl you were dating? Did anything ever come of that?”

I winced. “N-no. I got an email today and it... well, it was a break-up note.”

“Oh, Karin, I'm sorry.” My sister's voice was filled with sympathy, which actually did make me feel a little better. So-yi was good at making me feel better. Even though I wasn't especially upset that Marisa decided to break it off for good, I was still lonely.

“It's okay, sis. I'll be fine. I'm just...”

“You're not fine, Karin. I can hear it in your voice and I can see it in how you act. The way you just sort of float through your life, the way you act so lackadaisical about everything. You're lonely. Admit it.”

I felt a stinging in my eyes. “Yeah. I am.”

“Then you should stop trying to be a tough lone wolf, which you aren't, and remember that you have a family, which you should. Why don't you come visit soon? I'll even help with your fuel costs.”

“I... I mean, um, what about Nicole—”

“Don't try to use my wife as a shield, Karin. I know you two don't get along very well, but look, you always try to pick fights with her. Just try to be civil and come over. Please? You'll do it for me, won't you?”

Fucking hell, she knew there was no way I could resist when she asked that way. “A-all right, sis, I'll come visit after the snow lets up. I promise.”

“I was thinking more in the 'next weekend' time frame,” she grumbled. “Fine. If you're going to promise a visit that far out, then I have another demand, and you better damn well do what I say or Mama's going to get an earful the next time she calls.”

Shit, So-yi was breaking out the big guns. She must really be worried about me. I felt a little warmth spread through me as I considered it.

“What do you want?” My tone was wary.

“I want you to get out more.” So-yi ignored my obvious reluctance and charged on ahead. “I don't care what you do, just get out of the house more. Go to the library and read books. Go to a cafe and drink coffee and leech wireless or something, I don't care. Just get out into the world. Talk to random people. Make conversation. Go window shopping.”

I couldn't really argue with her. “All right, I'll make an effort to get out more.”

“You promise?”

“I promise, little sis. I'm not going to pretend it'll be easy or that I'm looking forward to it, but I'll seriously make the effort. My counselor says—er, I mean...” Shit. I absolutely did not mean to say that.

“You're... seeing a therapist?” Her voice actually sounded pleased. “You're actually talking to a professional about all this? Since when?”

Among other things, but I didn't say that. “Y-yeah, I started going to counseling once a week. My insurance covers it so I figured, why not, maybe it would help.”

“Is it helping?”

I thought about that for a bit before answering. “I think so.”

“That's great, then. I'm really happy you're trying, Karin. I'm sorry for getting snippy with you.”

“It's okay, sis. I'm being an asshole and I'm sorry, too.”

That was pretty much how our phone conversations went. We tended to open up with the important shit right away, which was usually So-yi trying to gently push me to find some sort of direction in my life. We'd bicker about it for a little bit, and then we'd spend the rest of the phone call talking about less weighty subjects.

About half an hour later, while I was listening to So-yi talk about the project she was currently working on at her job, my phone chirped. It was probably the notification telling me that my pizza would be here in a few minutes.

“I need to let you go, sis,” I told her over the line. “That chime was telling me that my dinner will be here soon.”

“Ordered the usual, huh? You know, if you come visit, you'll get to pig out on Korean barbecue until you explode. It'd be a nice change of pace from the same old pizza delivery every night.”

I smiled at that. “I already promised to come visit after the crazy snowing shit lets up, sis, give me a break.”

“It's not so bad out here,” So-yi pointed out. “Anyway, I'll let you go get your pizza. I'll talk to you again next Saturday.”

“Of course.”

“I love you, Karin. Remember that!”

The flutter in my chest at her words wasn't exactly pleasant, considering I knew the source of it all too well. “I-I love you, too, sis. I'll talk to you soon.”

I disconnected the call and just in the nick of time, too. The doorbell rang. I stood up and opened the door. The delivery driver was someone I didn't know this time, which made sense because I usually ordered later in the evening. I retrieved my food and returned to the small table near the bed.

The dining table was closer to the kitchen, but I rarely actually ate at it. It was currently buried under a mountain of various bits of paper waste, unopened mail and the box that my phone came in. Which I bought about a year ago, illustrating just how often and how well I cleaned my apartment.

I read an ebook on my phone while I ate, mostly in an effort to slow my eating down, else I'd try to inhale the whole pizza as fast as possible. Eating too quickly was one of those nasty habits you pick up in college, or when working shitty jobs that only give you half-hour lunch breaks. I'd never quite managed to break it completely, so I read while eating to pace myself.

I got through a few chapters by the time I started feeling full. I was surprised that I'd only eaten half the pizza, which was good as slowing down meant I didn't overeat. I closed the box back up and stuck it in the fridge.

When I got in I was feeling tired. Now I felt bone-weary. I turned the lights down to their lowest setting and started to undress for bed. I briefly thought about taking a shower, but I was just too tired. Stripping off my clothes and tossing them wherever they felt like landing, I collapsed face-first into the mattress.

The bed hadn't been made up in days and the sheets and coverlet were completely tangled together. I made a half-assed effort to cover my naked body with the blankets, set my phone down on the inductive charging mat on my nightstand, and passed out almost immediately.

the black

My phone rang.

I blinked, trying to clear my vision as I sat up in bed. My phone kept ringing, insistently. The clock on the nightstand informed me that it was a quarter after one o'clock. I'd been asleep for about five hours.

Ignoring the ringing phone I collected myself and tried to clear my head a bit. I could tell from the caller ID on the screen that it was my boss. There were only a few possibilities I could imagine that would prompt him to call me so late and on one of my days off. None of them were especially pleasant to think of.

Steeling myself for the inevitable shitstorm, I picked up the phone and accepted the call, holding the device to my ear. His voice, brusque and impatient, came over the line with little interference.

“We've got a big problem. I need you down here at the office, ASAP.”

“Of course,” I replied. “You wouldn't be calling me after one AM unless something was either exploding or on fire, or both.”

His response, as expected, was annoyed. “Can the sarcasm, Miss Ashley. There's been a breach. Someone's being fucking cute—and it has to be someone with clearance. No other possibility.”

That got my attention, the heavy shroud of sleepiness dropping away and bringing me into full awareness. “Elaborate on 'fucking cute,' please.”

“The level-four security doors aren't responding to any access cards or codes. Just get your ass down here and I'll tell you more.”

The call was disconnected. I glared at the phone for a few moments, staring at the call log as if I could transmit my negative thoughts over the wireless connection to strike my annoying supervisor directly in the face. Unfortunately, this proved impossible, so I stood up and padded to the bathroom.

There wasn't any time to get a shower. I had no choice but to throw on whatever and head down to the facility. As the data security officer at my place of employment, the inglorious task of responding to late-night systems emergencies fell upon my rather sore and tired shoulders.

I twisted the knobs on my bathroom faucet and washed my face, staring at the reflection in the mirror. I was not looking especially fetching right now, what with the obvious dark circles under my usually clear and sharp light brown eyes. They weren't so clear or sharp at one in the morning after being jolted awake.

My hair, usually something I took a great deal of pride in, was pretty much a wreck, so I didn't bother trying to do anything with it other than pull it back into a messy brown ponytail. It would have to do. I doubted my intolerable boss would give any number of fucks so long as I was present, alert and ready to deal with whomever was trying to break into our systems.

After cleaning up and throwing some clothes on, I felt a bit better, a little more in control. Quickly I gathered the implements of my position. My phone, my ID, my security officer jacket, which was infinitely less cool than my favorite leather jacket, and the thing I least liked carrying, my automatic. All security officers were required to keep and maintain a weapon as part of our job, but the gun was a massive headache to deal with.

Not because I didn't know how to use it—I'm not an idiot. I take it to the range every two weeks for practice because it's in my contract; if I want to keep my job, I don't have much choice. That wasn't the problem. The problem was more that carrying the thing concealed was a really gigantic pain in the ass, especially since the permit I held was heavily conditional. Traffic stops by the local police were not fun, and just to avoid problems I was a bit of a defensive driver.

The pistol I carried was a compact automatic, chambered in nine-millimeter, twelve-plus-one capacity. I drew the weapon from its padded black holster and pulled back the slide, checking the chamber. There was a round already locked and ready to go, the adaptive safety was good and I had no more time to be screwing around else the esteemed Director Reynolds would be calling me again.

I pulled my jacket on and walked out the front door, lingering just long enough to hear the click as the auto-lock engaged. It was cold out; I could see my breath emerge from between my lips in faint white clouds. Reaching into the pocket of my jacket, I pulled out my battered old lighter and a cigarette. I lit the smoke and inhaled deeply as I made my way down the four flights of stairs and into the parking lot.

My car wasn't the nicest thing in the world, but as I'd so eloquently put it to So-yi earlier: it was a car and the wheels rolled. More specifically, it was a Chinese-manufactured, 2028 make, two-door ethanol hybrid that certainly didn't look fifteen years old. The paint job was mostly immaculate, but I knew I would have to buy a new car soon enough. So-yi's revelation that ethanol taxes were going up was no surprise. The government sure liked to “encourage” people to switch to fuel cell cars with taxes.

I pulled the door open and dropped into the driver's seat, closed the door and started up the engine. With a soft whirr, the electric drive motors powered on. The battery capacity display told me I didn't have much; sure enough, the combustion engine popped to life.

As I pulled out of my apartment complex's parking lot and into traffic, I thought about money again. It's something I think about often, of course—doesn't everyone? A late-night call to deal with a crisis situation definitely had me thinking about my pathetic salary.

Traffic was light after one o'clock and it still wasn't snowing yet. Be grateful for small favors, I guess. I mashed on the accelerator and sent the car into the tiniest bit of a controlled slide as I changed lanes and merged onto the freeway.

The office I worked for, known to most as the Records & Licensing Agency branch office was at the edge of downtown Seattle. Strictly speaking I was a federal employee, but there really wasn't much of a difference between federal and state anymore, not since the Federated States Amendment was passed in 2022.

More about my job: the Records & Licensing Agency. It dealt with... records... and... licenses. I mean, really, this isn't all that complicated. At least, that's what it says on the label, anyway. Outside of keeping track of paperwork for just about anything under the sun, the agency's primary and less-obvious function is to keep tabs on the wealthy elite.

Powerful dynasties were nothing new in the American political and economic sphere, of course, but after the last two major recessions—one that started in 2008 and a much worse one that started in 2019—several branches of the federal government decided to get serious about keeping an eye on those individual families who held enough financial and political clout to buy whole nations lock, stock and barrel.

It seemed prudent, especially after the bastards and their political toadies nearly caused the entire western world to slide back into something resembling the 1920s. So the government formed the Records & Licensing Agency, ostensibly to reduce government waste by consolidating a lot of paper-pushing and database bullshit into a single agency with only a single source of funding, keeping the agency's true mission a secret.

The agency office wasn't a particularly big or imposing building. I suppose that made sense as we tried to present as boring a face as possible to the rest of the world while we did the dirty work. Well, I didn't actually do the dirty work; I'm just a security girl. It's my job to make sure the data we collect didn't end up in the wrong hands. It was usually a dull and tedious job that was occasionally punctuated by short bursts of excitement when the rare electronic intrusion actually happened.

I had an uneasy feeling tonight would be different. I parked my car in my designated parking spot—one of the very few perks I do get as the top cop on campus—and stepped out of the car. It felt even colder here than it did outside my apartment. I lit another cigarette.

“Karin, get your ass inside!”

I shrugged and walked through the sliding door to enter the building, ignoring the bright and obvious “NO SMOKING” signs plastered across the doors. It was one in the morning; who the fuck cared? Clearly, Director Reynolds was worried enough about the intrusion to let my breach of office etiquette go unpunished. Things must've been worse than I thought. I puffed away at the smoke as I followed the boss through the lobby and into the nexus of corridors that led to different parts of the facility.

“What gives, boss?”

“See for yourself,” he snapped and waved his access card in front of the door marked with a large red “4.” The auto-lock let out a low chastising beep and flashed red three times, which was not at all normal.

“That means it failed to read the card,” I told him. I unclipped my own pass from my jacket and brushed it across the lock's NFC reader. The same beep and triple-flash of red was my only reward.

“No shit. All the level four and lower security doors are returning read errors.”

I considered the locked security door for a few moments. “All of them? I know there's nothing wrong with either of our cards. I can reset them from my office, but...”

“Just use the override key,” Reynolds said.

“Are you sure that's wise with a hacker playing around in our network?” I gave my supervisor a dubious look. “If I reset the doors, you know I'll have to leave them all open until we can regain control of the system and make sure the attackers can't get back in.”

My boss sent me a glare that suggested I was getting on his nerves. “Don't patronize me, Karin. I know what it means. Just do it; if we can't get to the servers, we're not going to be able to pull the drives before they steal anything valuable.”

“I really don't think this is wise—”

“It's an electronic break-in,” Reynolds growled. “The doors being locked or unlocked isn't going to make any difference; they're already in the system. Just do it and fast, before they take something that gets both our asses fired.”

I shrugged. There wasn't much else I could do if he was going to be like that. I slid a panel on the auto-lock aside, revealing a keypad. The security override code would open any door I used it on. Once I got to my office, I could enter it system-wide through the hardlink and the intruders wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

The door lock beeped twice and the light went out. Under ordinary circumstances, a green light would have flashed, but the override forced the lock into the open position and then cut the power to the mechanism. I pushed the door open and strode into the corridor that would take me to my own office.

The auto-lock's indicator glowed amber. That meant that whomever broke into the system only managed to get access to level four security; my office was on the level five system. I tapped my ID against the panel and stepped into my office.

“I'll let you do your thing,” Reynolds muttered. “I'm going to head back to the lobby and coordinate with headquarters. Keep me updated.”

I didn't bother to respond, instead closing the door behind me and dropping into my desk chair. I unlocked the workstation and all three monitors went on, displaying several warning dialog boxes helpfully informing me that the system had been compromised externally. I tossed my spent cigarette butt into the trash and sat down at the desk. After taking a few moments to read the alert messages I opened up a terminal window and started tapping commands into the system, bringing up the access logs.

My boss was right about one thing; someone had used privileged clearance to gain level one access to the system remotely. From there it appeared they'd uploaded some sort of virus into the system that not only gave them backdoor access all the way up to level four, but also scrambled the logs to the point where I couldn't figure out who the original clearance belonged to.

It was my job to oversee the network security systems, investigate breaches both electronic and physical and make sure the regular authorities were able to arrest the perpetrators. The fact that they'd managed to get this far meant that one of my security people either got careless or was in on the whole thing. It was my responsibility, my failure and my boss could have nailed my ass to the wall, but he didn't. Yet.

I rubbed my tired eyes and tried not to think about the righteous dressing-down I'd get once we were out of the woods. After a few minutes I'd managed to clear away much of the garbage left behind by the virus, but I still couldn't figure out who the original clearance belonged to. I shrugged and entered the security override into the hardlink. A moment later and the terminal informed me that all the levels one through four doors were opened and powered down, no longer under the control of the intruder.

The next step was to physically pull the drives. If they weren't connected or powered on, it didn't matter how good the hacker was, they'd never be able to access the data. I stood up and opened the door to my office and took a right, heading down through another level four security door into the main data vault.

Rows upon rows of archival-grade hard disk drives filled dozens of modular racks that all connected via high-speed data cables to the database servers. This was the heart of the Records & Licensing Agency, but these weren't the drives I was actually interested in. This type of intrusion had less than nothing to do with mundane records or licenses.

I passed through the rows of storage racks and stopped beside a section of suspiciously bare wall. I placed my ID against a seemingly random spot on the wall and waited as a section recessed and slid away, revealing two much smaller storage racks. These were considerably more advanced than the others. All of them contained encrypted solid-state storage units, price tag somewhere in the neighborhood of ten thousand each. A black metal handle protruded from one of the rack-mount slots; I grabbed it and pulled, revealing a small folding display and keyboard assembly.

“Karin Ashley, Security, entering authorization code now,” I recited aloud. The system was locked with a voice-print as an added layer of security. A green indicator flashed on the screen and I started typing quickly, entering the root password into the keyboard as carefully as I could. If I didn't do this exactly right the system would send a pulse through the drives with enough voltage to fry them and probably set me on fire, too.

Considering that I had no desire to be on fire, I made sure I followed procedure exactly. Data scrolled across the terminal window, informing me that the system was open and I could retract the storage media safely.

Each drive was individually connected and I had to remove them individually. Well, “remove” is overstating it a bit; I wasn't actually going to take them out of the racks. One by one I slid the drives away from the backplane, disconnecting them from their power source as well as their connection to the data server.

The whole process took almost five minutes. As I pulled the last drive out of seventy, the lights in the room flickered. I froze in place, a chill running down my spine. That should never happen. This building had its own generator, but beside that, the data vault had several redundant power supplies, including a fusion battery that could keep the entire system up for two weeks without any external power whatsoever.

Flickering lights were not normal.

I stepped away from the hidden alcove. There were no external controls to close the wall panel, but the biometric scanners would realize I'd moved and the door should have closed on its own within ten seconds.

The lights went out. The door did not close.

Fuck.

I drew my pistol from the holster at the small of my back and tapped a button on the side. An integrated LED flashlight underneath the barrel and slide powered on and cast a bright beam, illuminating the room. The power was not completely out; indicator lights glowed on the storage racks all around me.

I strained to listen, trying to overhear anything—voices I didn't recognize, the sounds of a struggle, anything that would let me know if the intrusion was more than just a hacking attempt. But I couldn't hear anything except the humming of hundreds of small fans, keeping the drives cool.

“It makes sense, though,” I murmured to myself. My heart was thudding wildly in my chest. I kept my pistol in a ready grip, forward, my finger against the guard, fighting hard to maintain good trigger discipline. The last thing I wanted to do was get into a firefight with one of my own coworkers.

The near silence was unnerving, but the total lack of activity was worse. Reynolds should have been on the phone with all sorts of other agencies. My own security people and Secret Service suits should have been swarming all over the place, but the corridors were empty and dark.

I passed by my office, noting the auto-lock was still active. I hesitated by the door for a moment and pulled out my phone. The sane thing to do would be to go inside my office, seal the door and call for backup. Unfortunately, circumstances didn't want me to do the sane thing because I had absolutely no signal.

It couldn't possibly have been a coincidence. The electronic break-in was a prelude to an actual, physical break-in, one performed by professionals. I recalled the warning I gave my boss about the doors—

Shit! The fucking doors! That's what they wanted in the first place!

Acutely aware that my chances of being shot to death had exponentially increased, I lifted my pistol and flipped off the safety. The click sounded deafening in the dark, silent corridor. I was trembling, my heart beating like a crazy runaway freight train, but I was damn well determined not to go out without a fight. I sidled up against the level four security door leading back into the nexus near the lobby and peered through the plate-glass window.

The lobby was dark, but the parking lot floodlights were bright enough to illuminate the interior well enough. My eyes widened and I felt my body go so cold and slack I almost dropped my gun.

Blood was everywhere. Dark slashes of blood glistened wetly on the walls. Pooled on the floor, mingled with crushed and broken glass. The sliding double-doors that led into the building were made of high-impact bullet-resistant glass, but someone or something had shattered it. Near the entrance was a deep pile of whitish-gray ash, but I couldn't see any indication that there was a fire anywhere. More of it was scattered in smaller piles near the larger one.

My hands shook and I felt my mind start to spin out of control as panic threatened to take control, but I stubbornly shoved it back down into its box. There were three bodies along with the blood and the strange ash. The exterior lighting was harsh and gave the scene a surreal blue cast, but I saw their uniforms well enough to know they were all my security officers, people who I worked with day in and day out.

The light wasn't good enough for me to recognize them by face and I counted that as a fucking blessing.

Something had gone terribly wrong. My boss would have called our own people plus the Secret Service, but he was nowhere in sight. I saw no one in cheap black suits, only the three dead guards. Whoever broke into the building had killed our people so quickly and suddenly that they hadn't had a chance to even draw their weapons.

I stepped back away from the door leading back to the lobby and crept through the darkened corridor, toward my office. With shaky hands I tapped my ID against the auto-lock, wincing as the loud acceptance chime went off. As quietly as I could I slipped inside my office and slapped my hand against the light panel so that the motion detectors wouldn't turn the ambient lighting up. Best for anyone outside to think nobody was inside.

With my phone getting no signal whatsoever I had no other options except try to use my computer to get the word out. A feeling of uneasiness clung to me as I sat down and brought my machine out of standby, greeted by the familiar desktop workspace. The network connection was still active.

Thank all the stars in the universe for that. I let out a relieved sigh and tapped the icon that would open up my message interface. I'd get an alert out to the local Secret Service branch and hope that the FBI wouldn't need to be involved. Fat chance of that, really, what with three murder victims in the lobby of a federal building.

I tapped on the keys as quietly as I could, trying to maintain the appearance that nobody was in the office. Fortunately the office had been arranged in such a way that any observers looking in wouldn't be able to see my computer displays. My fingers trembling, I pressed the “send” icon and watched as the little indicator wheel began to spin. It wouldn't take long before the emergency alert was received and the cavalry were on their way.

The indicator didn't stop spinning.

My hands started to shake even more. Okay, so the network connection was up, but that didn't mean the facility's internet connection was necessarily still active. I could check easily enough. I opened up a terminal window and entered a command that would try to contact an external IP address. There was a short delay before “connection timed out” printed across the terminal window along with a few bits of information about the test packets sent.

Okay. The attackers had their shit together. My hands felt like if they shook any more violently they'd start generating light and heat. I tried to slow my heart rate by taking deep, slow breaths, but it didn't seem to be working.

A wavy strand of my hair dangled in front of my eyes; I angrily brushed it aside and behind my ear. There was literally nothing I could do at this point. The facility's security had been successfully neutralized and communications were completely down. The smartest and sanest choice I could make would be to make a break for it, cut through the lobby and the parking lot to my car.

Running and abandoning the data to the intruders really was the only option left if I wanted to keep breathing. My bosses would undoubtedly be furious with me, that I had failed to stop this, but at least I'd be alive. I'd lose my job, might even lose my pension, but I would still be breathing. That was good enough for me; if I could just make it out of this alive, I'd be happy.

Unfortunately circumstances yet again conspired against me. For the first time since the physical break-in began, I heard the sounds of a struggle. A loud thump reverberated through the facility walls. From the intensity and direction of the sound I concluded it was coming from the data vault. I could just faintly hear the sound of voices, some of them deep and masculine and intimidating, but I also caught the indistinct, indecipherable lilt of a clear and high feminine voice.

What the fuck was going on here tonight? I pulled a cigarette from my jacket pocket and lit it inside my office, something that I would risk getting fired for on a good day. Today was not a good day and I was probably fired anyway.

If the intruders were fighting, arguing, there was a chance I could exploit their disharmony to prevent the theft of the drives. I knew that's what they were here for; it was the only real option, after all. If the intruders just wanted their hands on the data alone they would have simply tried for a much more blitzkrieg electronic intrusion, obtaining the files before anyone had the time to pull the drives.

No. The attackers wanted to steal the drives. They didn't just want the data, they wanted to deprive everyone else of the data. The very nature of this sort of information was such that we didn't maintain redundant backups at separate locations. The more we propagated it the more likely a leak became, so we were always inherently at risk.

My hands weren't shaking quite so bad anymore after the smoke. I kept my gun held in a ready position with my right hand as I unsealed the office door and stepped back into the corridor. I could still hear the voices, arguing, shouting at each other, punctuated by the occasional loud percussion. It didn't sound like gunshots, though.

The door to the data vault was still deactivated. I pushed it open and let my sidearm do the leading. The rack-filled room was a little better lit than the empty corridors, but it was still dark enough that I couldn't see well. I couldn't risk using my flashlight without being detected, so I just kept my back against the storage racks. The indistinct voices became louder and more coherent.

“... I know you were summoned to steal the agency's data on our House. I will not allow you to escape with those drives intact.”

The reply came moments later, in a sepulchral tone that seemed to echo and resonate within itself, but I couldn't make out the words. That voice was weird and close. Maybe less than a few meters from where I stood, hiding behind a collection of storage racks.

Trying to keep as quiet as I could, I prepared myself mentally for the possibility that I might have to shoot someone tonight. My index finger brushed against the ridges machined into the metal of the trigger.

I leaned out from behind the racks and snapped my gun arm up. There was a tall, gangly figure holding a black nylon duffel. I couldn't really make out many details, but I could tell, even in the poor lighting, that the satchel was carefully packed with the data drives from the hidden storage racks.

I shouted as loudly as I could, trying to intimidate with my voice as much as my weapon. “Security! Drop those drives immediately and put your hands on your head!”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a man. Tall, athletic, obviously Asian and mostly bald with an archaic-looking topknot on his head that seemed at odds with the expensive tailored suit he wore. In his hands he held... well, that was fucking weird.

The man was poised in a fighting crouch, a very old Japanese longsword gripped in his hands, the polished steel blade reflecting trails of blue and green colored light from the storage rack indicator LEDs. Next to him stood what looked like a girl in her late teens, maybe early twenties, but it was hard to tell in the gloom.

The sword-wielding man's eyes widened in horror. “No! Do not interfere with—”

There was a dark flash of something and I felt a tremendous impact slam into me, almost knocking me off my feet. I stumbled against the nearby rack and managed to keep my balance. My training took over.

The gun came up and fired twice in rapid succession, taking the intruder directly in the center of mass. I expected to see the figure stumble, perhaps fall to his knees or at least drop the duffel, but this didn't happen. I fired again, and again, the deafening report of the pistol echoing throughout the confines of the data vault. My ears rang painfully, but I kept firing until the slide locked open on an empty magazine.

The muzzle flash left spots dancing in my vision; as my eyes re-adjusted to the darkness, I felt as if my bones had turned to water.

The dark man stood as he had before, taking twelve high-velocity nine-millimeter slugs to the torso with absolutely no effect. My hands started to shake again and I was dimly aware that I'd dropped my gun. I had a spare mag, my training kept trying to tell my body to move, to reload and keep firing, but it was useless. I felt dizzy, weak, barely able to keep my feet underneath me.

“Unwise.” The dark figure was turned away from me, but I knew it was addressing me directly. “If you had not challenged us, we would have allowed you to live.”

The sword-wielding man was no longer standing, either. It became increasingly clear to me that the black flash that nearly knocked me flying had been directed at the swordsman, not at me. I could smell the sharp metallic tang of blood in the air, mingled with the lingering acrid scent of gunsmoke.

The dark man strode toward the fallen swordsman, clearly intent upon finishing the job that he'd started with whatever weapon he carried that created those black flashes. The girl was crouched over the swordsman, shaking him desperately.

“Your impulsive actions have inadvertently aided us. We will reward you with a merciful death.”

I knew the threat was directed at me. I'd caused a distraction by interrupting their battle. I gave the dark man the opening he needed to fell his opponent. And now, because of me, the girl would die, too.

I couldn't let that happen. The shaking in my hands suddenly subsided along with the fear, replaced only with fury. Rage fueled my movements, rage at the dark man, anger at myself for my own stupidity. I rushed forward in a dead run, feeling the blood and adrenaline coursing through my veins, setting them afire.

My words came out in a roar of defiance. “No! Leave her alone!”

The dark figure didn't respond with words. There was another black flash, this time aimed at me. I felt a soul-chilling sickening feeling as something indescribably corrupt washed over me, almost dropping me in my tracks. I felt intense pain as the attack, whatever it was, opened up a series of deep slashes on my right arm. Blood poured from the wound, hot against my skin, but I ignored it.

The girl looked up at me, astonishment overriding the resignation in her eyes. I tried to collapse into a combat roll, but ended up simply falling to the ground instead. My chin and knees slammed into the cold laminate floor, but I ignored the pain and took hold of the dead man's sword.

The hilt felt oddly warm in my hands, tingling against my skin as if it had been charged with static electricity, but I was only very faintly aware of it. I had no idea how to use the weapon properly, but I didn't need to. The dark man was already almost on top of me as he rushed forward.

I could see his face for the first time.

It wasn't a man's face, or even a human face. The face was flat, blank. No ears, no nose, no brow ridge, nothing. Empty of features—except for eyes. Dozens of eyes of various sizes, shapes and colors. Some resembled human eyes. Others looked like animal eyes. There was a single eye in the center of the faceless head, a vertical pupil with an angry reddish-gold iris that looked very much like the eye of a snake.

The black flash nearly blinded me with negative brilliance. I was close enough that I could tell the dark man wasn't even armed, that he was somehow producing the blasts of whatever from his hands—which were also covered in staring, blinking, darting eyes.

I don't know how I managed to even stay functional. What I was seeing couldn't really be happening, wasn't even within the realm of possibility. If I hadn't been so fueled by adrenaline, anger and self-reproach, I don't think I would have been able to resist.

The corruption washed over me, but didn't seem to sink in like it did the last time. I felt the sword in my hands start to tingle. The thin strip of the blade's edge started to glow as if the steel was being heated for forging. First cherry red, then yellow, then brilliant white, but I could feel no heat.

“Strike it down! Hurry!”

The girl's voice sounded pure, high and bell-like. The resignation in her eyes was gone, replaced with something that looked like hope. The command was almost a compulsion; I felt my body reacting, thrusting the glowing blade outward.

The dark man tried to parry the strike, but the angle was all wrong despite my ineptitude with the scavenged weapon. The tip pierced his flesh and drove deep into his gut, his own charge driving the blade through his body. There was a horrible keening shriek, an unbearable cacophony that I felt as much as heard, but I held on, driving the blade deeper into the creature's eye-covered body.

Waves of heat roiled off the blade, but I couldn't feel them. The sword's edge was glowing more brightly than the sun; I couldn't even look at it without pain. The body impaled upon the weapon seemed to writhe and contort, collapsing in upon itself. I yanked the sword back viciously, ripping it from the dark man's torso with a spray of black gore that smoked as it hit the floor.

Stumbling backwards, I tried to keep hold of the sword as best I could, but my attention was completely riveted to the horrible spectacle in front of me. The dark creature just folded up, its body just crushing down into an irregular sphere, as if a giant invisible fist took hold and squeezed.

The ball of filth and corruption exploded, consumed within a sphere of black incandescence. It spread outward and I could feel a cold, clammy and crawling sensation envelop me. Whatever profane substance made up the creature's form was expanding and spreading, smothering me, sapping away my anger, my adrenaline and leaving behind intense feelings of crushing despair.

I was dimly aware of the girl, her hands spreading wide as a shimmering, soothing golden radiance washed over me. It was the last thing I saw before I lost consciousness.

flowers

My eyes flew open and I sat bolt upright in bed, drawing in deep breaths. I was in my apartment, in my own bed. My phone was sitting on the charging mat; I picked it up and woke the device from sleep. It was almost four o'clock in the afternoon. Somehow I'd managed to sleep most of the day away.

A chill ran down my spine as the memories of the nightmare I'd just awakened from came rushing back to me. I felt cold, clammy. Sweat clung to my skin. I could still remember the nightmare almost as clear as if it had really happened. Usually my dreams were pretty elusive and tended to be fragmented, the fleeting memories dissolving completely as the day wore on.

This time was different. I rarely had nightmares. Most of my dreams were benign stuff, usually pretty weird stuff when my brain wanted to check out for a while. Occasionally I had dreams about my family. Rarer still were the pleasant sort of barely-recalled sexy dreams where I'd wake up and find both my thighs and sheets damp. But nightmares? I hadn't had any since I was little.

Well, I wasn't so little anymore. Twenty-nine didn't feel that old, though. I didn't feel much like an adult most of the time. I had the usual adult problems, adult bills, adult job and adult responsibility, but I didn't feel different, really. Maybe it was just so slow and subtle a change that I just wouldn't notice it.

“Maybe it's just because I'm alone,” I murmured, to no one in particular.

It was a possibility. Being single and uninvolved with anyone wasn't exactly unheard of at nearly thirty, but it wasn't especially common, either. I wasn't that interested in other people. I didn't even have many friends. Marisa was the last person I even touched in a manner resembling anything intimate. I'd never had sex—yeah, almost thirty and I never once got into it with another person, male, female or otherwise. I had no desire whatsoever to have children. I didn't care. I wasn't interested.

Being alone wasn't so bad. That's what I tried to tell myself.

I tossed the sheets aside and got out of bed, but stopped before I headed for the shower. Something felt off, smelled off. I sniffed the air and my nostrils were filled with the very faint scent of sweet flowers. That wasn't a normal scent in my apartment. I didn't wear perfume and I hadn't had fresh flowers in the apartment in years.

“You're awake.”

To say that I was startled would have been a big fucking understatement. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the voice from behind me. Lilting, clear and bell-like and unmistakably feminine, it was a voice that had been etched into my mind by the nightmare I'd just awakened from.

I whirled around and stood face-to-face with the girl I'd seen in my dream. My jaw dropped and could have hit the floor if it wasn't attached to my head. Unlike in my dream, I could see her much more clearly in the fading late-afternoon sunlight.

She was a little shorter than me, perhaps by a few centimeters. Her build was slight, like mine, and she was clearly fit but still had a soft, exaggerated feminine look to her. Her hair was sort of wavy, faintly red-tinged gold in color, and she had a lot of it. Her eyes were large, expressive and had irises so intensely green they didn't look real.

The girl was dressed in a sort of simple red yukata that left her legs mostly bare, appearing to be cut high with freedom of movement in mind. She didn't wear any shoes, likely because she'd taken them off; I could see a pair of simple cut-silk flats neatly lined up next to my own shoes near the front door.

I stood there, staring at her, mouth hanging open, and she just gazed back at me, pensively, not speaking. I had no idea what the hell was going on. It took my mind several long moments to process what I was seeing, because I just noticed something that was even more bizarre than anything else so far.

The girl had fox ears.

Huge fox ears, covered with fur the same color as her impressive mane of hair. The ears twitched, swiveling to and fro as they adjusted to catch the faintest sound. A swishing of red-tinged gold behind her. Of course, she had a fox's tail as well. The tail was long, almost extending beyond her knees, and very fluffy. The tail's volume increased toward the tip and then tapered down to a point; this point was slightly more pale than the rest.

I must've gone into some sort of brain lock, because when I tried to speak, nothing coherent came out of my mouth. The clarity of my memories of the nightmare seemed to deepen even further as I stared like an idiot at the girl.

“Yes, I'm real,” the girl stated, answering the question I tried to ask. I blinked and noticed that my hands were shaking again, quite violently this time. This was just too out there. I stumbled backwards, falling back on the bed, but the girl walked slowly around and held something out to me.

It was my pack of cigarettes and lighter. I took these things from her hand and somehow managed to pull a smoke out of the pack. Lighting it proved to be a little more difficult with hands that shook so much, but I managed. I took a long drag and slowly blew out a plume of smoke, the familiar sensation calming me a little.

“Are you all right? Do you feel any significant pain?”

The girl's question was innocent enough, but I had no idea how to answer it, not even in the slightest. I was not okay. I was confused, I was scared, my hands were shaking and I didn't know what the fuck was going on.

“No... no, I'm not okay. I'm really not okay. If you—if you're here, really, right there in front of me, then that nightmare I had—”

“It was not a nightmare.” The girl looked at me sympathetically with those huge, eerily green eyes. “Please, rest. Your body absorbed a great deal of miasma. I was able to cleanse most of it, but you will be weak for a time. I will make tea.”

I held a hand up. “No, no, I'll make it. Just let me get my bearings a little first.”

The girl tilted her head quizzically. “Why?”

“Um, it's my apartment. Just stay there and I'll make some.”

“Why would you make tea for me?” The girl stared at me, seeming to be utterly stumped by the idea that I might get up, go into my own kitchen and make a pot of tea.

“Well, you're in my home, so that makes you my guest, I guess,” I said, dumbly. “Isn't that the nice thing to do?”

“I... suppose. It is a very small home, and I see no servants, so I would take the task on myself. You must rest until the miasma has left your—”

I was starting to feel the need to control something, anything, reach a fever pitch. At least I could make tea in my own apartment. “I can get up and make tea. I'm capable of that much, okay?”

Ignoring any further protest from the weird fox girl, I got out of bed and walked into the kitchenette. I filled a battered old teapot with water and set it on the stove, turning the flame on to high. A few moments later the water started to boil, so I cut off the heat and dropped a few grocery-store teabags of Earl Grey inside. It wasn't the best—I was more a coffee drinker, usually—but the girl mentioned tea, so I made tea.

I poured the tea into two cups and handed one to the girl. She seemed genuinely surprised—hell, more like thunderstruck, now that I think about it. Hesitantly she accepted the offered beverage and sipped at it slowly.

Her vulpine ears seemed to convey a great deal of emotion, because they drooped slightly in a way that seemed to match the pink flush that formed on her cheeks. I really had no idea what the hell that meant, but at least my mind was actually starting to work properly now after the initial shock.

I sat down on the edge of my bed and motioned for her to sit next to me. The weird girl just blinked, her tail's slow swishing suddenly halting.

“Don't you want to sit? It feels weird for you to be just standing while I'm not.”

The girl blinked. “Is that permissible? I don't wish to offend you.”

“If it was going to offend me I wouldn't have offered,” I replied, annoyance creeping into my voice. I sipped at my own tea, the floral and citrus notes in the tea helping to clear my head a bit. The weird girl walked gingerly toward the edge of the bed and sat down, her fluffy tail curling around and wrapping around her waist to rest atop her lap.

“So,” I began, unsure of what to say.

“How are you feeling, Master?”

I gawked at the weird girl. She was getting even weirder by the minute. “What do you mean, 'Master?'” I demanded.

“I'm sorry. I will explain.” The girl's voice sounded deeply and formally apologetic, almost to a ritualistic degree. I still didn't know what was going on, but her attitude was so deferential and submissive that I couldn't help but wonder.

“Last night, my Master and I were sent to investigate the scrying of two thousand-eyes summoned by a rival family. The seers determined that such creatures would be used to perform a high-stakes theft of information. We tracked the creatures to the Records & Licensing Agency building and engaged them in combat.”

“Wait—this 'thousand-eyes' thing, that's what I shot at? That's the thing I stabbed with the sword?”

“Yes.” The girl sipped at her tea and I watched as the blush on her cheeks intensified. My eyes narrowed suspiciously; there was definitely something going on with this weird fox-eared girl. I mean, beyond the obvious fact that there was a weird girl with fox ears in my apartment telling me that the nightmare I had was actually real and I actually did spend the evening fighting a man-shaped monster made of eyes.

Yeah, all of that was pretty fucking strange, but besides all that, the girl seemed to be deeply affected by the simple offer of tea. I didn't really know what to make of that. I didn't know what to make of any of this.

“The thousand-eyes were much more powerful than my Master expected,” the girl continued. “He defeated one, but its companion overpowered my Master. I fully expected the creature to destroy me as well, but that did not happen. You intervened.”

“I—I shot that thing twelve times,” I blurted. “It didn't even budge him. It was like I did nothing at all.”

The girl nodded. “Specters can't be killed through ordinary means. Only warriors armed with a Relic can defeat them permanently.”

I already guessed that much. The memory was crystal-clear in my mind: the glowing sword, thrusting it through the body of the dark man. The creepy, oily coldness that expanded outwards and the explosion of corrupt darkness that sapped my energy and emotions and dropped me like a sack of wet rice. Yeah, sure, I remembered that much, far more vividly than I ever wanted to.

“When you took the Relic into your hands and used it to slay the specter, it became anchored to you,” the girl continued. “I cannot exist in the world without a source of mana, and my Master had been killed. I could not heal the wounds that the thousand-eyes inflicted upon him, as they were much too severe.”

My eyes widened. “Wait, what? Rewind just a bit there; what do you mean, you can't exist without a source of mana?”

“I am the spirit of the Relic, in the form of my former Master's sword. I was created from the invocation of purified quintessence and imbued within the blade during its forging, to grant it the power to destroy spirits permanently.”

I tried to parse this, but it wasn't making any sense to me. This was some kind of folk legend shit here, the sort of thing my mother not-so-secretly believed in. This kind of stuff didn't really happen, did it? I mean, I guess it did, since it happened to me and now there's this weird but cute girl with fox ears and tail in my apartment talking to me about hunting demons or whatever.

“Okay, so let me get this straight. You need someone to, um, wield the weapon you're imbued in so you have the energy necessary to stay alive?”

“Not to stay alive, but to manifest in physical reality.” The girl finished her tea and set the cup down gently on the nearby table. “Without a Master to supply me with astral energy, I have no choice but to remain dormant within the Relic.”

The parsing troubles weren't really going away. “Right. Well, let's change gears a bit here. What's your name?”

The girl blinked, surprised. “I do not have a name.”

“Wait, how do you not even have a name?” I demanded. “How did your Master get your attention, or call for you, or whatever if you don't have a name?”

“I am linked to my Master's spirit through his bond with the Relic. If he wishes to summon me, I will come. There is no need for my Master to speak to me directly in order for me to aid him.”

“Okay, well, that's going to stop right now, then.” I drained the last vestiges of my tea and lit another cigarette. “Apparently I'm stuck with you? This Relic thing you keep talking about, the sword, it's permanently attached to me?”

“Not physically, but it is an inextricable part of you.”

“Okay... but you can think for yourself, right? I mean, you aren't a direct extension of my will?”

“I can make decisions of my own will. Such a level of independent thought was deemed necessary so that I might be more effective in fighting against specters. Allowing my Master to focus on combat without needing to divide his attention to direct my actions offers a significant advantage during battles.”

“Well, that's a relief,” I muttered, feeling a tightness within my chest start to unravel just a bit.

The fox-eared girl's head tilted again. “Why?”

“Because I don't like the thought of having a slave, maybe?” My tone was a bit harsh, perhaps, but it was a defensive response, hastily snapped out. The reaction it got, however, sent a sharp pang of guilt through my chest.

The girl immediately collapsed down into a low, prostrating bow, her forehead pressed against the mattress of my bed, her ears laying flat, her tail curling between her legs. She looked for all the world like a dog someone had just kicked.

“Please, Master, forgive me for speaking out of turn. I submit to any punishment you deem fit.”

“Hey, hey, I didn't mean anything by that,” I told her, trying to make my voice sound as soothing as possible. I placed my hand on her slender shoulder and squeezed it softly, trying to show her that I wasn't upset.

She didn't budge. “Come on, sit back up and look at me. You're making me feel like I just kicked a puppy.”

Slowly the girl drew back up, settling into a sitting position, though her back slouched a bit more than before. Her ears drooped, clearly broadcasting her uneasiness at the perceived breach of some ancient etiquette that I had no knowledge of.

“Okay, look. I don't know what your previous Masters were doing to you, but that sort of thing is not going to happen to you as long as we're stuck with each other.”

The weird girl didn't say anything, but her expression did seem to brighten at least a little. Her ears perked back up, too.

“So, first thing. You don't have a name and nobody ever gave you one, so I'll come up with one for you myself.” I stopped and thought for a moment, trying to figure out a name that would be appropriate. Well, she'd been imbued into a Japanese longsword, after all. A Japanese name would likely be appropriate.

I pondered for a long moment. My Japanese had pretty much disintegrated badly in the years since Mama moved back to Osaka to care for my grandparents. It was never all that great to begin with since I'd been raised in the States.

Regardless, I spent some actual effort trying to think up something good. After a few minutes of thoughtful silence, I decided upon something I considered appropriate; at least it was the best I could do on such short notice.

“How about... Misaki?”

The girl blinked, but she didn't seem to be too upset by the suggestion. I still felt I should explain how I decided on the name, anyway.

“Well, 'Misaki' can use the kanji for 'beautiful blossom.' When I woke up, the first thing I smelled was the faint scent of flowers, and I know that came from you, because I don't even own any perfume. And the 'beautiful' part, well... that should be obvious.”

The girl didn't seem to react. I guess I tried to be all cool and relaxed. I mean, I really did try, but clearly it didn't work out so well. Maybe it was too subtle? Awkward, thy name is Karin. There was more to the meaning to explain, so perhaps I hadn't completely lost my ability to look cool.

“There's an alternate reading for 'Misaki' as well; a collective term for various types of spirits in Japanese mythology. That's also appropriate, don't you think?”

The girl smiled. Her tail swished a bit faster and her ears pricked up. I could see she was pleased by the meanings inherent in the name I'd picked out for her.

“Okay, Misaki, it's nice to meet you,” I continued, putting a degree of cheerfulness I didn't actually feel into my voice. “My name is Karin Ashley. Since we're stuck with each other, I hope we'll get along well.”

“Karin. It is a strong name, I think. A good name for a warrior.”

I chuckled softly. “I'm definitely no warrior. Maybe a half-ass excuse for a soon-to-be unemployed security officer at the very most.”

“Then you have the soul of a warrior,” Misaki insisted. “You fought courageously against the thousand-eyes with a mundane weapon, despite being at a severe disadvantage—and yet you survived!”

“Yeah, and the whole time I was practically shitting myself. Besides, if it hadn't been for you and the sword...”

Misaki shook her head. “That does not matter. What could have happened is not what actually happened. You were victorious because you overcame your fear.”

I felt my cheeks start to heat up in response to her praise. It wasn't something I was used to at all. “I don't really think I did anything worth mentioning. I mean... I couldn't just run away and let you die. I just did what anyone else would have done.”

“You risked your life for a stranger in a hopeless situation.” Misaki's ears twitched and her expression became thoughtful. “You had no obligation to do so, to shoulder the responsibility of protecting and defending.”

I shrugged but didn't say anything. I was having a hard time articulating how I felt, especially as Misaki appeared to view me in a much more favorable light than I'd ever experienced. As screwed as I knew I was, her praise fed my ego and right now I was desperate for any sort of positivity.

“I would never have imagined that the Relic would be bound to a woman. All eighty-one of my former Masters were men. I did not even know such a thing was possible!”

“It's not that unusual,” I informed her. “I mean, we're a long way from true equality, sure, but there aren't many jobs a man can do that women can't. Being a soldier or a cop, you use your legs, your hands and your head, not so much the sexy parts. So I don't really see how it matters.”

Misaki's head tilted quizzically. “Within the house of my former Master, only men were ever instructed in the art of warfare. Women were only responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the house itself. My former Master's family believed strongly in the wisdom of tradition.”

“That's how it was for most of human history. Things will never be perfect, but we have to keep working to make them better. Otherwise we're just sitting there spinning our wheels and never making any progress.”

“My former Master would consider such an outlook uncivilized,” Misaki said.

“Uncivilized, my ass. Tradition is usually just an excuse to let lazy minds travel only the safest and most well-worn paths.” I puffed on my cigarette and flicked ashes into the ashtray. Misaki's expression was pensive as she considered my words. I was mostly babbling at this point, still pretty put off-balance from the sheer weirdness of the situation, but it was still an accurate depiction of what I believed.

“So, what happened after I was knocked out?” I wondered, trying to focus the conversation on something I could actually deal with. “Did the intruders get away with the data drives?”

Misaki held up a reassuring hand. “No, Master. Once the specters had been defeated, the communications jamming failed. It was not long after when federal agents arrived and secured the scene.”

I lifted a hand up and shook my head. “Look, don't call me 'Master.' I don't care what that other guy did, but I'm not a man, I'm a woman, and I'm definitely not your Master. Just call me Karin, okay?”

She looked more than a little distressed at the prospect of using my name instead of a title. “But is that not disrespectful?”

“No, it's not disrespectful,” I explained, trying to keep my tone as soothing as I could. I could tell that she was capable and highly intelligent, but the culture she appeared to be accustomed to was clearly regressive and highly patriarchal. Or even worse: what if she'd been created to act this way, programmed to act this way?

That didn't seem right, though. Misaki appeared to be open to different ways of doing things, so maybe she could loosen up a little now that she was under my care. Was she under my care? I still didn't really know what the hell was going on here. Maybe it was time to find out.

“Misaki, I need you to answer some questions for me. Do you mind?”

“What questions?”

I placed the cigarette between my lips and took a long draw, blowing the plume of smoke out and above Misaki's head. I didn't even know if she actually breathed air or not, but it seemed the polite thing to do.

“How did I get home? Tell me everything that happened after I killed that eyeball thing and passed out.”

Her fox ears twitched. “Your strike was not aimed precisely. The specter's miasmic core destabilized and caused an explosion. With the bond between you and the Relic still tenuous, I did not have much mana to draw from, but I managed to protect you from the blast enough that you would survive. After the miasma faded from the area, I was able to release the barrier and carry you to the outside of the building to your car.”

I blinked. “Wait, you can drive?”

“Well enough.” Misaki smiled shyly. “My former Master trained me extensively in the use of modern technology, so that I would be able to blend in among humans and better assist him in his duties.”

“I think those ears and that tail would make 'blending in' pretty difficult.” My tone was dry and I fully expected the quip to go over Misaki's head. The twinkle in her eyes and a slight twitch at the corner of her lips told me she hadn't missed the joke. I considered that a good sign.

“The visible features of my aspect are far easier to hide than a lack of knowledge about the modern world,” Misaki countered. “Clearly things are very different from the way they were before. I would never have imagined the Relic being bound to a woman!”

I hoped she'd get over that quickly. Being constantly reminded of perceived inferiority was sure to irritate me. Misaki didn't seem to mean it in a negative way, though, so maybe I was just being too sensitive.

“So... I'm guessing you haven't really spent a lot of time out in the world, then.”

Misaki shook her head. “I am called when needed for my duties, but otherwise I was not permitted to venture out without my Master. When I was not accompanying my Master on a hunt, I remained at the manor and functioned as a maidservant.”

That didn't surprise me very much. Misaki's thoughts on gender roles were outdated enough that I already guessed they were keeping her insulated from the outside world. Probably to better maintain their control. Fuck, these people are pissing me off and I've never even met them before.

I sipped at my tea, wishing I'd made coffee for myself instead. Honestly I was curious to learn more about her specifically, but there were more important things to concern myself with at the moment.

“Can you tell me what else happened? My phone should be ringing off the hook, my boss and the stars only know how many other bureaucrats wanting to pick my brain, but I haven't heard so much as a peep. I seriously thought I dreamed the whole thing.”

“Your superior and three of your people were killed by the thousand-eyes.”

I winced. “I can't say I'm surprised, but still, after something like that...”

“The scene was secured and sealed by four AEGIS front-line operatives and their commander. They are a secret government agency of spirit hunters. My former Master considered them one of the family's most formidable enemies.”

I recognized the agency she mentioned: the Advanced Engagement Ground Interception Squadron, yet another example of the United States government's fetish for acronyms. As far as I knew, they were an infrequently deployed tactical response unit attached to the FBI, a sort of federal version of the police SWAT teams, but with more high-tech toys to play with. Clearly they were much more than that, but I was more interested in something else Misaki mentioned.

“Why did your Master consider them enemies?”

“They exist at cross purposes.” Misaki's tail curled around her thigh and she started to smooth the fur with her hands. “My Master's House seeks fortune and influence, as well as the accumulation of arcane knowledge. AEGIS exists for the express purpose of destroying any specters summoned into the world.”

The layers of intrigue began to pile up. Misaki and her former Master showed up at the Records & Licensing Agency for selfish reasons. It was easy enough to guess that the agency had dirt on the family and they wanted to stop their rivals from obtaining said dirt.

“They're going to know I was there,” I pointed out. “Reynolds called me in on my day off, there's records of that, plus the times I used my ID to open doors, enter my office, the computer use. They'd have to be blind and stupid to not realize I was there.”

Misaki's ears drooped slightly. “I was most likely not detected, but AEGIS couldn't have overlooked your presence, nor could they fail to notice the body of my slain Master. They will seek us out.”

I lit another cigarette. Normally I wouldn't be burning through them this quickly, but things were hardly anywhere in the vicinity of normal. Misaki was right; if AEGIS was really in on this demon-underworld bullshit, they'd be paying me a visit soon enough.

“I have no messages or missed calls,” I pointed out. “What about your ex-family? Wouldn't they want to recover the Relic? I'd think it would be a treasure that they've passed down generation after generation.”

Misaki didn't seem to like that question. “They can't.”

“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow, letting out a puff of smoke. My throat was already becoming sore from chain-smoking three in a row, but they were taking just enough of the edge off of things that I didn't care.

“A True Relic is permanently bound to its wielder. There is only one way to sever the connection,” Misaki murmured. I noticed that she wasn't looking at me anymore. Her implication wasn't hard to figure out.

“Let me guess: it involves killing me.”

Misaki nodded. She looked pretty bad just thinking about it. I wasn't enough of an idiot to believe that her ex-family wouldn't try to contest my ownership of the Relic at their earliest convenience. That left me in something of a predicament.

Understatement of the century.

I got up from the bed and walked into the kitchen, suspending the conversation long enough to set the coffee maker to work while I made Misaki another cup of tea. She accepted the offered beverage without protest this time and began sipping at the hot liquid slowly.

I flicked ashes into a nearby tray and walked over to my closet, trying to figure out what I wanted to wear. It was late enough in the evening that I really had no excuses at all to still be walking around half-naked.

“Do you wish me to help you dress, Karin?”

I turned and stared at Misaki. “Um, I can dress myself.”

The response I got was the expected one; her ears drooped and she looked as if she'd somehow failed at some major responsibility. This kind of culture shock was going to take some getting used to, and maybe I needed to take it a little slower.

“I get the feeling that you want to be more useful, right? Well, how about this: do you know how to cook?”

Misaki's ears perked up. “I know a little. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, I should eat something for dinner.” I pulled on a pair of socks and then a fresh pair of jeans. A fitted camisole came next. Being off today meant I wouldn't need to worry about being armed. That was good news and gave me more clothing options. I chose a light, gauzy long-sleeve shirt to wear over the tank top.

The rest of the good news was Misaki apparently had the foresight to grab my gun, which I'd dropped during the fight with that eyeball thing. I drew the weapon from its molded thermoplastic holster and ejected the empty magazine. The slide wasn't locked open on an empty chamber. Misaki must've known a bit about how modern weapons worked if she knew to hit the slide release before holstering the weapon.

“What would you like to eat, Karin?”

“Whatever you want to make,” I replied. I picked up the cigarette from the ashtray and pulled on it a few times before stubbing it out. The damn thing smoked most of itself while I was getting dressed.

While Misaki busied herself in the kitchen, I started field-stripping the pistol for cleaning. There was a kit nearby in a small, battered cookie tin; I opened it up and pulled out a bottle of gun oil, a bore ram and a few cleaning wipes and set to work. I did my best to keep the weapon scrupulously clean. Inconsistent care could lead to a jam at the worst possible time.

As I had the weapon disassembled, cleaning out the barrel with a cleaning wipe attached to the end of the bore ram, I turned my attention to the girl in my kitchen. She didn't seem to know where half the utensils and cookware were kept, but I decided I'd let her figure things out herself. Misaki seemed to be put off balance every time I refused to let her perform some manner of mundane task for me.

It's not like I could really blame her. She'd been created to be female and spent most of her existence during a time period when women were little more than domestic servants and fuck-holes on demand. I felt a slight shiver go down my spine, trying very hard not to think about what other possible indignities Misaki might have endured.

I turned my attention back to my own work. I kept my gun clean, so there wasn't a lot of residue to take care of. I'd only fired a single magazine's worth of ammunition since the last cleaning. This was nowhere near as bad as the mess I'd end up with after an afternoon at the range with four boxes of ammo to shoot off. I started fitting the various pieces back together—the guide rod and spring went back on along with the barrel, then the slide went over those. It was still really pristine on the inside, so I could probably make it another few months before I had to do a full teardown.

I dropped the magazine out and checked to make sure it wasn't loaded, slapped the empty mag back in and hit the slide release. Keeping the weapon pointed well away from either myself or Misaki, I pulled the hammer back and pulled on the trigger, checking the safety. Everything seemed to check out, so I removed the magazine again and opened up a fresh box of fifty nine-millimeter rounds.

“It'll be finished in a few minutes,” Misaki called out.

“Okay, I'm putting this thing away once I get it loaded.” I didn't have an automatic loader, so I had to do this the hard way. It was a rough process on my thumbs, and I had to be careful because the magazine spring was strong and the edges were sharp enough to inflict some pretty nasty cuts.

After a minute or two of struggling and cursing under my breath I'd gotten all twelve cartridges into the magazine. Into the pistol it went and I cycled the action once to chamber a round before checking the safeties again. Everything seemed in order so I stuck the gun back in its holster and set it on a nearby shelf.

I walked into the bathroom to wash the gun oil and residue from my fingers. When I came back into the common area of the apartment, Misaki had already arranged the dishes, artfully presented on the small table. What she'd made looked very skillfully prepared: a steaming bowl of rice, stir-fried vegetables and some fish left over from the day before yesterday, raw, sliced thinly and arranged in concentric circles on a plate. It didn't escape my notice that she'd only set one place at the table.

“You're not going to eat, too?”

Misaki's eyes went wide. “Would that not be disrespectful? I would always eat in the kitchen, at the maidservants' table—”

I raised a hand to stop her. “No, Misaki, it's not disrespectful. Come, sit with me. Don't eat your food standing up in the kitchen.”

“I suppose that makes sense.” The girl obtained a second plate and a pair of chopsticks from the vase I kept on the counter. She sat these down across from me and reached out to take my plate.

“You don't have to—” I stopped myself, but it was too late. Instinctively her ears flattened again. I was really bad at this, apparently. It just felt so alien to let someone else do things like help you dress in the morning, serve your meals and fetch anything and everything you needed. Maybe it was a good thing my salary was terrible. I'd make a shitty rich person.

“Misaki,” I began, giving her as big a smile as I could muster, “try not to think of me like you thought of your Masters. Did you ever have any friends?”

She shook her head.

“Never? You're going to learn what that's like, then.” Before she could react, I reached out and picked up her plate and dished some of the meal out onto it. Misaki just stared at me, those vivid green eyes wide, as I set the plate down in front of her.

“Go ahead and eat.” I sipped at my tea and served myself, taking a little rice, a lot of vegetables and even more of the fish. I wasn't the best when it came to chopsticks, but for some reason I didn't want to get up and grab a fork. It would have just made Misaki feel even more inadequate and out of sorts.

“This is really very good,” I said around a mouthful of vegetables. It was just some random stuff I had in the fridge, but Misaki displayed a great deal of skill when it came to cooking. I wasn't the worst cook, but the uniformly paper-thin slices of sashimi told me that her abilities were several levels beyond mine.

Once again the ears gave her away. It was pretty obvious Misaki had never really been complimented, especially not by someone who filled the role of “Master.” I tried my best not to grimace at the thought. She may have had her own mind, but it was clear enough to me that if I ordered her to do something, anything, she would do it without question.

“T-thank you,” Misaki managed, the words coming out almost in a squeak. Her ears were flattened, her cheeks flushed and her speech thick with embarrassment. I tried not to stare at her too obviously, but it was becoming increasingly difficult not to. I mean, she's really easy on the eyes.

“Things aren't going to stay this peaceful for long.” I clumsily picked up a piece of sashimi with my chopsticks and dipped it in a small dish of soy sauce before eating it. Misaki was already almost finished with her meal, obviously being used to having to eat quickly in order to resume her tasks as a maidservant before the important—the male—members of her clan were done with their meal.

“N-no, they won't.” Misaki's voice was obviously troubled. “AEGIS will come for you eventually.”

I drained the last vestiges of my tea. “So will your ex-family. AEGIS I'm less worried about.”

Misaki nodded, but she looked unconvinced.

“Look, AEGIS is the government. I work for the government already, so I know how they operate.” I took a moment to chew a bite of rice and fish before changing the subject. “You mentioned earlier something about a 'True Relic.' What's that all about?”

“The sword I am imbued within is a True Relic.” Misaki placed her chopsticks on the table. “All True Relics are much the same; a new spirit created from the remains of slain specters, imbued into a master-crafted weapon using a powerful invocation ritual.”

I arched an eyebrow. “So it's magic, then?”

“Yes and no. It is an approximation of magic, sometimes called magecraft or astral thaumaturgy. Spirits can draw upon the lines of force to safely pull mana from the astral world and into the physical world. Humans cannot do this safely and must draw upon the loose mana in the world around them.”

“But you can use magic,” I reasoned.

“Yes. I was born from a seed crafted from the remains of purified specters. Like all spirits, I can use magic, but I can't draw new mana from the astral world. I depend upon channeling mana through my Ma—I mean, through you.”

I smiled. “Show me something.”

Misaki nodded and lifted her right hand. The air around her seemed to crackle and pulse with power. From the empty air a swirl of flame appeared around her hand, shaping itself into a sphere that glowed brighter and brighter until I could no longer look upon it. Waves of heat pulsed off the ball of fire, raising the temperature in the room by several degrees.

I averted my gaze and Misaki clenched her hand, dispelling the effect. The room cooled almost immediately, as if the glowing sphere of flame had never really existed.

“The spell-flame requires only the smallest trickle of mana,” Misaki explained. “Through the Relic, I can do far more by drawing upon the mana contained within you. This relationship between the wielder, the weapon and the bound spirit is what makes a True Relic.”

“So... why does AEGIS care so much about True Relics?”

Misaki's ears twitched. “They are unique artifacts of an ancient time long since past. No one alive today knows exactly how they are created. AEGIS wishes to obtain control of them or their wielders, not only to bolster their own strength and deny their enemies, but also to learn. They wish to strengthen the Relic-like devices wielded by their own hunters.”

It wasn't too hard to figure out where she was going with this. “I get it. They want to get their hands on real ones so they can reverse-engineer them and use the data to make their copied weapons more effective.”

“Yes. My former Master spoke of these Emulated Relics on occasion, insisting that they were nothing but a hollow imitation that paled in comparison with a True Relic.”

“What do you think?” I asked.

“I... well, I have seen their effects,” Misaki ventured. “I can't tell you anything about how they work, but they do work. Like the blade you now wield, these devices are capable of permanently destroying a specter's miasmic core.”

I suspected the both of us would find out soon enough, though I doubt either of us appreciated just how “soon” it would be. Misaki's ears perked up and swiveled, tracking some sound that was far too quiet for my human ears to detect. The fur on her tail bristled, causing the already fluffy appendage to gain even more volume.

“There is a person approaching the door,” Misaki whispered. “The person is armed, but they are making no effort to conceal their presence. They aren't here to fight.”

“I knew it wouldn't be long before the chickens came home to roost,” I muttered, standing up and walking to the door. “I don't know where you can hide here but—”

I am already hidden, Misaki's voice echoed through my mind. I glanced behind me, but she was nowhere to be found. The shock must've been evident in my mental voice, because I felt Misaki smile faintly.

I recalled my body into the Relic, within you. It will be completely impossible to detect me so long as I remain in this state.

Good thinking, I replied mentally, “speaking” at Misaki with my thoughts. I felt a sort of pleasant warmth emanate from the mental connection, but she didn't reply.

There was a knock at the door. Not the loud, rapid bashing against the door that was characteristic of a cop chasing a perp. Instead it was a soft, polite rapping, the sort of knock you'd expect from a door-to-door merchant or a neighbor wanting to borrow a few eggs and a cup of sugar.

I could feel a bit of uneasiness from Misaki, but neither of us had much choice but to move forward. There was no way we could run away from what happened. Fuck my life for always feeling the need to complicate itself further.

I took a deep breath, reached out and opened the door.

mercenary

“Karin Ashley, I presume?”

“You presume correctly.” I gave the unfamiliar man a quick once-over. Every single part of him screamed “federal agent,” from the cheap black suit, the white shirt and the plain black tie to the wire-rimmed sunglasses, expressionless mien and neat, short haircut.

He was definitely a good-looking man. Swarthy, very tall and well-built but slender, a sort of basketball player's build. He probably had to have his suits custom-tailored with arms that long, though. I just barely cleared 170 centimeters, maybe a bit over average height for a Japanese-Korean-English mutt, but this guy towered over me.

“I'm Special Agent Daniel Williams, FBI. May I come in, Miss Ashley?”

I didn't believe for a second this guy was just a run-of-the-mill fed. The timing was too perfect for Agent Williams to be anything but a member of AEGIS. What he and his organization intended to do with me remained to be seen. That didn't mean I was going to make it easy on him.

“Got a warrant?” I quipped.

The man made a face. “Very funny. I'm not here to arrest you, Miss Ashley. I am only here to speak with you about the incident last night at the Records & Licensing Agency. You were instrumental in foiling the break-in attempt and data theft.”

“Considering how that's my job, it shouldn't be all that remarkable.” I wasn't stupid; I knew the man probably knew all about the weird shit that went on last night, the eye-guy and everything, but I wasn't going to give anything up for free.

“Even so, Miss Ashley, we would still like to debrief you about the, ah, 'special circumstances' regarding last night's incident. You will oblige me, I hope?”

“Fine.” I turned around and walked across my apartment and sat down at the kitchen table. “Come on in. Close the door behind you.”

“Thank you, ma'am.”

“Anything to drink?”

“No, ma'am, this shouldn't take long.” Williams sat down at the kitchen table and folded his hands on the table's surface. No notepad, smartphone or other type of recording or transcription device. Interesting.

“Well, I'm going to get something to drink.” I opened the fridge and pulled out a beer, glancing at the clock on the stove before opening it. It was already 5:27 PM. Fuck my life, today was my day off and it was already almost half over. I shrugged and opened the beer, returning to the table with my beverage and my cigarettes. I moved the ashtray to my side and lit up.

Agent Williams seemed unfazed by my extremely informal manner, not even raising an objection to the smoke that I didn't bother to apologize for. Definitely not a regular fed. Not nearly uptight enough for that.

“I'll get right to the point, Miss Ashley. We know you've come into possession of a unique and priceless item. Don't bother denying it; our investigation has turned up a wealth of evidence in the aftermath of this morning's incident.”

Well, hello. Williams was the no-nonsense type who went right for the kill. I tried my best to look casual and fired off a return salvo. “So you must be with AEGIS.”

“I'm not surprised the spirit already told you that much. How much do you know about our organization?”

“Not much.” I took a swig of my beer and a drag off my smoke. At this point I wasn't really trying to annoy him anymore. He'd already dispensed with the niceties and the song-and-dance routine and gotten right down to business. I could respect that.

“Just tell me what you do know.”

I sighed and took another sip of beer to wet my throat. “Officially, AEGIS is a paramilitary unit attached to the FBI, like a really well-funded SWAT unit. Obviously this is bullshit and even garden-variety internet conspiracy theorists know it.”

“Knowing what we aren't isn't the same thing as knowing what we are,” Williams pointed out.

“Too true. Get to the point, Agent Williams. AEGIS is approaching me because the lot of you want something from me. I have a pretty good idea what that something is, so please do us both a favor and don't try to bullshit me.”

Williams nodded. “We want the Relic.”

“Well, you see, that's kind of impossible,” I explained. “That thing is stuck to me and there's only one way of making it come loose.”

“We know. Even if we were in the business of murdering law-abiding citizens, it would be a pointless gesture. The Relic you possess will only bind itself to a new wielder voluntarily.”

That was interesting information. Misaki hadn't mentioned that. Through the bond to the Relic I felt a stirring that could only be described as uneasiness. I returned my attention to Agent Williams. “So why are you here?”

“I'm sure you've guessed already.”

“You want me to join AEGIS.” It was sensible and unsurprising. If the Relic would only bind to a wielder with the consent of the spirit that inhabited it, threats and coercion would be ineffective. The next best thing, of course, would be money.

“Yes. Miss Ashley, I believe you will be very interested in our offer, should you wish to hear it. We understand that your position at the Records & Licensing Agency is not one you favor. Your compensation package is also mediocre at best. You can do far better.”

I puffed away at my cigarette for a moment and took a sip from my beer. I usually get more than a little suspicious when people start casually hinting at large dollar amounts, but he was right. My job sucked, the pay sucked and while he was nice enough not to mention it, I was probably fired. He had me dead to rights and he knew it.

“Please, take a look at the contract on offer. I understand this is sudden, so feel free to ask me any questions you might have.”

Williams reached into his coat and drew out a folded sheet of paper. This he passed across the table to me. I unfolded the sheet and started to read. I tried to cover my shock at what they offered with a glug of beer, but I felt hopelessly transparent. The AEGIS man had the advantage here for sure.

“This looks pretty good to me, but there are a few things I'd like to add.”

“Certainly. We're very willing to negotiate, Miss Ashley.”

I tapped my chest. “Her former Master's family isn't likely to just let me keep this thing, Agent Williams. I want assurance that AEGIS will be able to protect me from any unfortunate incidents, if you catch my meaning.”

“That goes without saying,” Williams replied, sounding somewhat miffed that I'd call into question his organization's ability to look out for its own. “We take care of our people, Miss Ashley. You can count on that.”

“Fair enough.”

Williams shifted in his chair. “What else?”

“I can't make this decision alone, Agent Williams. There's someone else I have to talk to about this since it involves the both of us.”

“Our dossier on you indicated that you were single and have only intermittent contact with your family.” Williams arched an eyebrow. “Please understand that everything we have discussed should be held under strict confidence. This information is classified at the very highest levels, for the sake of national security.”

“That's not what I mean, Agent.” I finished off my beer and lit another cigarette. My throat wasn't going to like me tomorrow morning, but whatever. I wasn't in the best place and I'd take just about anything I could to calm my nerves.

“Then you'd best elaborate.”

“Oh, come off it. You know damn well what I'm talking about. She's part of this, too, maybe even more than I am. Isn't that why you want me, Mister AEGIS?”

I was bullshitting more than a little here, but it seemed to be working. Williams perfect facade of calm, bland civility slipped and the man looked uncomfortable for the first time since he'd arrived.

“I was under the impression that the Relic's governing intelligence would have little choice but to acquiesce to its wielder's wishes.”

“That may have been true before, but the situation has changed. I don't have the knowledge or ability to impose my will on her and I wouldn't do it even if I could.” I crossed my arms over my chest and gave the man a defiant stare. He didn't look happy, but he clearly wasn't going to argue. Good.

“We're willing to work with you in whichever way we can.” Williams stood up and pushed the chair back underneath the table. “Thank you for your time, Miss Ashley. My contact information is listed on the offer. I know this is a big decision, but time is of the essence. If you could have an answer for me within the next forty-eight hours...”

“I'll talk to her,” I reiterated.

Williams shrugged. “That's all we can ask. Have a pleasant day, Miss Ashley. I'll be looking forward to your answer.”

The towering agent walked out my front door and shut it behind him. The auto-lock was already engaged but I turned the manual deadbolt just to be sure. I walked back to the kitchen table where Williams sat and felt around underneath. The chance that he'd actually left a listening device behind was pretty low, but it never hurt to be careful.

The search came up clean. That didn't mean there was nothing; AEGIS likely had access to all sorts of crazy spy gadgets that I'd never find in a million years without specialized equipment.

“Did you really mean it?”

I almost jumped out of my skin. “Shit, Misaki, can you give me some kind of warning before you just pop up out of nowhere?”

“I'm sorry,” she murmured. Her ears drooped, but didn't lay completely flat. I took that as a sign she was getting more accustomed to the way I talked. A good sign, to be sure, especially if the both of us were going to end up fighting creepy fucks for AEGIS.

“It's okay.” I reached out and took her right hand, squeezing it gently. Her ears perked up and she smiled. “Yes, I really meant it. You heard everything that went on, right?”

“Yes, even when I draw into the Relic, I can still detect sound and astral energy. I am not surprised that AEGIS wants us to fight for them.”

“So I gathered.” I dropped down onto the edge of the bed and patted the spot next to me. This time Misaki sat down without protest. Her tail curled around, seemingly of its own accord, and swished gently to and fro across the mattress.

She gazed at me with those huge green eyes. “You want to accept the offer, yes?”

“I do, I mean, it's a lot of money... but even more importantly than that, it offers us some defense against your ex-family. I don't think they would hesitate to murder me in order to take you back.”

“I don't want that to happen!” Misaki blurted, her usual musical lilt cracking. I certainly didn't disagree, as I was quite fond of living, and I suspected that Misaki enjoyed being treated like a person instead of an object.

“That makes two of us. Do you think we should do it, then?”

Misaki didn't hesitate. “Yes. If AEGIS can protect us from the Tsukimura clan, I will gladly lend my spells to their cause.”

“It's not really different than what you were doing before, is it?”

“No, though AEGIS doesn't discriminate. They destroy all specters, regardless of who has summoned or established pacts with them. My former Master and I were sent to slay specters of rival families and to keep servant Houses from growing too bold.”

I suppose I should have seen that coming. Mundane politics were a clusterfuck mess, and adding corrupted supernatural beings only made it a million times worse. What surprised me more was Misaki's implication that AEGIS was at least maintaining the appearance of honesty. I wasn't completely convinced. I'd been with the government long enough to know it was never that simple.

“Agent Williams oh-so-graciously gave us some time to consider the offer,” I mused, returning to the issue at hand. “I think I'll wait to the last minute just to fuck with him.”

Misaki's head tilted curiously. “Oh.”

“I don't know about you, but I'd like to actually enjoy my time off. Williams will keep; he gave us two days to give him an answer.”

“Um, I've never had a 'day off' before.” Misaki's ears twitched slightly and the cadence of her tail's swishing changed subtly. “When my former Master and I were not hunting specters, I would spend my time maintaining the Tsukimura manor with the maidservant staff, or sleeping within the Relic..”

I grimaced. “All of your time? You had no time to yourself at all?”

“No,” Misaki replied, her voice growing distant. “The Tsukimura house is very large, and the family has many servants to maintain and operate the manor. Missions are relatively infrequent, so my former Masters would command me to assist the maidservants. Due to my... unique traits, I was often selected for, um, attendant duty.”

Her evasive tone was starting to worry me. “What sort of duty is that?”

Misaki's ears fell almost totally flat against her head and she would not look at me. I could see the shame she felt in her expression. It was clear she didn't really want to talk about this, but the cat was already out of the bag. The touch of concern I felt only a moment before was amplified significantly as I put two and two together.

“W-well, men generally find me to be attractive,” Misaki managed, her voice shaking just a little bit, “and since I am an immortal spirit, no child would come of it. B-because of that...”

Her unsubtle and clumsy attempt to dance around the issue was transparent. I felt physically sick as my worst suspicions were validated. Of course it had happened. I wasn't surprised, but I was angry and disgusted that other members of my own species could do such a thing.

Misaki struggled to try and calm me down. “But I was only required to attend my Master and the Tsukimura leadership. M-my body is constantly repaired and restored by the Relic. Please don't worry! I'm not... broken, or used up, or anything like that...”

My jaw was lucky it was physically attached to my skull, because if it hadn't been, it would have hit the floor and shattered into a million pieces. It was bad enough that Misaki had been subjected to such treatment, and yet she felt guilty about it? Afraid that I would think less of her for what she'd endured? This was almost too much for me to deal with, especially now, less than a day after my entire world had been turned upside down.

“I'm just going to start assuming that if there was something horrible they could do to you, that they probably already did it,” I muttered under my breath, more to myself than anyone, but Misaki's ears were exceptional, of course. Those ears lifted off her head, just barely, and she turned her gaze back on me.

“A-are you upset with me?”

“No, Misaki.” I sighed and turned to look her directly in the eyes. “I'm not upset with you. You didn't do anything wrong. I can't believe that someone could do what they've done to you. It's... beyond awful.”

Tears welled up in Misaki's eyes. “I'm sorry. I really didn't want to tell you. I was afraid that you would think me used up, or unclean... and you would be angry...”

“No! I would never! Come on, now, don't cry.” I reached out and brushed the tears away from her eyes with my finger. “Really, cheer up, Misaki. I can't stand to see such a cute girl cry. It's just not cool, okay?”

“I'm sorry—”

“And you need to stop that constant-apologizing thing, too,” I interrupted. “Especially about this. That is not even remotely your fault; you were coerced. You didn't agree to it and you didn't want it.”

Misaki wiped her own eyes. “What I want...”

“What you want matters, Misaki.” For her sake, I tried my best to tamp down my emotions, but I was having a lot of trouble keeping my cool. At this point the very last thing I wanted was to make her feel even worse.

“Nobody has ever cared about that,” Misaki admitted.

“Considering that you've been under the complete control of a bunch of patriarchal, socially-regressive bastards who didn't get the memo that it's not the fucking dark ages anymore, that's not too surprising.”

She didn't respond to that with words. Her tail curled around the small of my back. Her fur was far softer than that of a natural fox, almost as soft as rabbit's fur. I knew it wasn't accidental; Misaki was trying to communicate to me without words.

I drew my arms around Misaki's shoulders and pulled her close, leaning her head against my chest, smoothing her hair with my fingertips. At first she stiffened in my arms, but relaxed almost instantly, seeming to physically melt in the embrace. Slowly, her breathing evened out.

A thought formed in my mind. “Hey, I know it's late now, but how about we go out for a few hours tomorrow? Get out in the world for a bit?”

Misaki's head tilted up and she looked at me. I smiled at her.

“O-okay,” she murmured.

“It'll be too cold for you to wear that out of the house. You're close enough to my size that I'm sure I've got something you can borrow. We can go do a little shopping tomorrow, get you a few outfits to wear.”

Misaki didn't say anything right away, but I could just barely see the faint curving of her lips as a smile threatened to form. I plowed ahead. “And after that we could go spend some time just walking around together. Have a nice long talk, get to know each other better, since we're going to be living together and everything. Does that sound like something you'd be interested in?”

“I-I'd like that,” she murmured.

small wishes

We got up early the next morning and headed out around eleven. There was a nice little shopping mall reasonably close to my apartment. I figured it'd be as good a place as any to find Misaki some clothes. Traffic ended up being a little heavier than I expected for a Sunday, but it wasn't too bad.

I opened the car door and stepped out onto the weathered, stained concrete of the parking deck. The passenger side door opened a moment later and Misaki pulled herself out of the car. Her expression was one of a person trying very hard not to show how overwhelmed they were.

“Come on, let's go take a look,” I said, beckoning for her to walk beside me. My clothes were a little long for her, but with dresses that wasn't such a big deal. The weather was as nice as we could expect for the middle of winter, but it was still cold.

I'd lent her a simple black sweater dress and a pair of winter-weight purple tights. The contrasting colors set the red-tinged gold of her hair off in a way that was really quite fetching. Misaki's more unique physical attributes were nowhere to be found, hidden beneath some sort of magic that she maintained.

“How long can you keep your ears and tail hidden?”

Misaki turned to face me as we walked. “As long as I don't need to use mana for anything else. It's such a minor illusion that I can maintain it almost indefinitely.”

“So that means we don't have to be back home by the stroke of midnight?”

She gave me a curious look. “What do you mean?”

“I... it's nothing, never mind.” I instantly regretted the reference; there was no possible way she would have gotten it. With more than a little effort I managed to tamp down my steadily-rising anger. As furious as I was at the bullshit she'd endured, I didn't want to make her feel any worse.

I reached out and opened the door leading into the mall and motioned for her to head on inside. The cold was already starting to get to me a little.

Once inside the mall, Misaki's eyes grew as big and round as saucers. I wasn't all that surprised. I didn't really need much imagination to figure she'd probably never been outside the Tsukimura compounds for any reason other than to hunt specters.

“I've never been to a place like this before.” Misaki glanced at me. Without being able to see her ears it was harder to gauge her emotional state. It was pretty wild how expressive they were and how much I missed them when they were gone. An unfortunate compromise made so that she could blend in with us humans.

“Yeah, it's pretty obvious. I've never seen anyone this excited about going to the mall, and I like shopping.” I reached out and took her hand in mine, tugging her along through the clusters of other shoppers. “I think there's a place over here you'd like.”

“O-okay, Mistr—”

“Karin,” I corrected. My voice dropped to a low not-quite-whisper. “I'm Karin. Not 'Mistress' or 'Master.' Just forget titles entirely. Just Karin, okay?”

Misaki's cheeks flushed slightly. “Right. Karin.”

“Come on, let's go look in here.” I motioned toward a nearby store that specialized in clothing for teenage girls and young women. I suspected a more playful style would work well for her. Misaki's looks leaned heavily toward “very obviously female,” even if her curves were understated. We'd likely be best served by playing to her strengths.

The interior of the shop was an explosion of pastels, ruffles and ribbons. The signage advertised the little store as being a purveyor of several popular ultra-feminine fashion brands. I glanced at Misaki and then swept my gaze across the aisles and racks. I tended to wear pretty low-key clothing and the outfit I'd lent Misaki only served to emphasize her unusual appearance.

I motioned to the racks of clothing. “Go ahead and pick whatever you like.”

“A-are you sure? I can just find what I want?”

“I just said that, right?” I tried to keep the frustration out of my voice and was careful to exaggerate my smile for her sake. It was obvious that she wasn't the greatest at reading subtle emotional cues.

Misaki started to walk toward the clothing racks, but hesitantly, as if she were afraid to get too far away from me. I made eye contact and kept smiling, which appeared to help strengthen her resolve, because she took off into the center of the store, going through the racks.

I couldn't see her ears due to the invisibility charm, but I could well imagine how they would twitch and flick to and fro in her good mood. Her tail, too, would be practically wagging in anticipation. I mentally crossed my fingers and hoped she wouldn't walk too close to someone else and have the invisible tail hit them in the leg or something.

I let her wander the store for a while, standing off to the side near the check-out counter. The twentysomething clerk was halfheartedly watching the store while playing with her phone. I glanced at the time; it was almost two. Figuring it was about time to head out, I walked through the aisles until I found her.

Misaki was carrying the components to three complete outfits in her arms. She smiled when she noticed me and I stopped next to her.

“Did you get all you wanted?”

“Um, is this really okay? These clothes are very nice, and... expensive.”

I nodded. “Yes, it's really okay, and no, I don't care how much they cost. Come on, let's go to the counter and get checked out.”

The two of us stepped up to the check-out register and I rapped my knuckles against the acrylic counter top. The clerk looked up at us and offered a polite, businesslike smile as Misaki dropped her armload of clothing on the counter. With little effort the clerk stripped the tops, skirts and dresses off their hangers and scanned them into the register one after the other.

The clerk locked her eyes on Misaki. “Is this all for you?”

“Um, it is, yes,” she murmured.

“Did you want to try any of this on before you purchase it?”

Misaki shook her head. “I can tell that everything will fit me just by looking at it.”

“I wish I could do that.” The counter girl's tone was dry and sarcastic, but I didn't disagree with her. I suppose one benefit of being an artificial bound spirit was that you knew your exact measurements at all times and they never changed.

“What's the damage look like?” I asked the clerk. The woman tapped a few commands into her tablet and named a figure. I blinked. The total was somewhat lower than I thought it'd be, so I reached into my pocket for my phone, pressing the back of the device against the scanner to authorize the charge.

After the transaction processed, the clerk packed the items in a plastic shopping back and handed this to Misaki. She looked at the bag in her hands, then up at me with an expression that, while obviously pleased, I couldn't quite decipher.

“You two make a really cute couple,” the clerk commented with a sly grin.

I wasn't expecting that, but I suppose I should have. I felt my cheeks heat up a bit and tried to make my stare look a little less blank, but then I realized that Misaki was standing extremely close and just barely leaning against me, her expression relaxed and content.

I sputtered a little and my face must've gone even redder, because the clerk started to laugh. Misaki glanced at the clerk and then back at me, her head tilted just slightly to one side. I knew if I'd been able to see her ears they would have perked up curiously.

“Um, we're not—I mean, we're...”

The clerk's laughter died down but her expression told me she wasn't buying what I was selling. Feeling more than a little self-conscious, I walked out of the store without another word. Misaki followed a little closer than she had been before.

“Want something to drink?” I motioned toward a small cafe kiosk in the middle of the walkway between the various storefronts. “I'm going to get myself a coffee, so if you want anything, I'll get it.”

Misaki looked pensive as she considered the offer. “I'd like tea.”

“Okay. Find us a place to sit and I'll get the drinks.”

I started off toward the cafe, leaving Misaki to find us a table. Unfortunately this also left me mostly alone with my own thoughts, even though I was surrounded by other shoppers heading through the concourse to browse the various shops. The line for the little cafe was a little long, but the customers were being checked out quickly.

I would be lying to myself if I refused to admit my attraction to Misaki. I was never the sort to believe in love at first sight, but I'd also never been in a situation where I felt so strongly drawn to another person in my entire life. Granted, this was as a far from a normal situation as possible. I'd never been bound to a monster-slaying sword before, either, so the pull I felt clearly wasn't the weirdest thing that's happened in the past two days.

Considering the actually crazy shit that did happen, it was a wonder I was even able to function at all. It could have been a byproduct of the binding itself, but I had no real way to tell. I organized my thoughts and feelings as I stood in line, something I hadn't always been very good at. My counseling sessions helped a bit with that, but even then my head tended to be a mystery, especially to me.

After a few minutes, the line was whittled down to three people ahead of me, but one of them was ordering for what sounded like a big business meeting. During the wait, I'd somehow managed to separate out three major thoughts or lines of inquiry or whatever related to the situation I was now in.

One, I was about to get a new job that would pay much better than the security gig at the Records & Licensing Agency. Looking at the figures on the sheet Agent Williams left behind, I'd be able to trade in my old hybrid for a brand-new fuel cell car within a few months. With that kind of regular paycheck, I could move to a nicer apartment. Maybe take some vacation time off and go visit my mother in Osaka; she'd certainly like that. Outside of video calls, I hadn't seen her face-to-face in over a year.

Thought One was a lot easier to parse than Thoughts Two and Three, and Thought Three was the one I was the most wary of by far, with Two having to do with the implications of supernatural beings that could grant power to mortals who summoned them or sold them their souls. Some shit like that, anyway. I suspected I'd learn at least something from AEGIS. I'd already heard the basics from Misaki.

Thought Three was the big fucking deal, and yeah, obviously, it was about Misaki herself. Just giving mental voice to the things swirling around in the back of my mind were threatening to short-circuit my brain.

The line was finally gone and it was my turn to order, so thankfully I didn't have to dwell on that particular thought any longer. It wasn't something I really wanted to knock around in my head just yet.

I ordered a coffee for myself and a cup of tea for Misaki, which unlike the fancy specialty drinks the customers all around were sipping from, took less than a minute to have ready. A quick glance into the dessert case had me adding on a pair of cute little strawberry tarts topped with whipped cream. They seemed appropriate.

Refreshments in hand, I wove my way through the tables and the crowds. The mall was very busy and there weren't many open seats available, but I could see Misaki sitting at a small table for two, a little off to the side near the escalator leading to the second floor.

“Here's a nice hot tea, and a little treat.”

Misaki stared at me, her eyes wide with astonishment that someone might treat her with kindness and dignity. She was making progress, though, as she didn't immediately release a stream of ritualistic formal apologies for being a burden or some other shit that definitely wasn't her fault.

I sat down and took a sip of my coffee. Hot, brewed strong, no sugar and with a generous amount of light cream mixed in. I didn't say anything as Misaki gingerly picked up her strawberry tart and began to nibble it, slowly at first, and then with real interest.

“This is really good!”

“Is it?” I eyed the matching pastry in front of me and picked it up, taking an experimental bite. She was right; it really was good, especially considering it was likely made off-site the night before and trucked to the kiosk cafe hours ago. The both of us finished our tarts in silence. Maybe a minute or two later, Misaki stiffened as if a chill had just run up her spine.

“Karin...”

I sipped at my coffee. “What is it?”

“I feel something that I shouldn't feel here,” Misaki murmured. Her eyes narrowed and started glancing around the cafe's seating area. Her voice dropped even lower and she leaned toward me. “There's a specter nearby.”

I felt my own body go rigid at that. It seemed odd that there would be a specter in a regular run-of-the mill mall, and I said as much. Misaki shook her head and then tapped herself on the chest.

“It's after me, I think,” she admitted.

My expression was grim. “Your ex-family?”

“Yes, or one of their servant Houses. The specter is emitting only a very small amount of miasma, but I can feel the hallmarks of my former clan's summoning invocations.”

Well, this was just great. I wasn't on duty, so I couldn't—and wouldn't, under normal circumstances—carry my gun for a shopping trip. I suppose it really didn't matter, anyway; twelve shots at less than three meters barely even scratched the eye-thing before. I didn't know if that was normal for all specters to be that durable, or just a particular ability of the specific type I fought.

“You aren't defenseless, Karin, and neither am I.” Misaki's voice was calm, low and soothing. Now the tables were turned; I was in the unfamiliar and scary situation and she was in her element.

“Can you tell where it is?”

“It's... below us and to the west, maybe about a hundred meters.”

I nodded, expecting this. Beings that monstrous in appearance wouldn't be able to simply walk around the mall without a care in the world. I didn't really think a bunch of evil spirits actually cared what humans thought of them, even their alleged masters who bound them with magic circles and made deals for power. I was pretty sure they weren't stupid enough to walk around openly, though.

Even if ordinary people with ordinary guns couldn't actually kill the thing, the bigger the commotion got, the more likely AEGIS would show up, or maybe another independent spirit hunter. Well, there was a hunter here, so the specter was out of luck on the whole remaining hidden thing.

The Tsukimura clan be damned; as far as I was concerned, Misaki owned herself. Whether she drew power from my soul or whatever, I categorically refused to own Misaki or let anyone else claim ownership over her. Letting out a deep sigh, I dug myself out of shitty thoughts and focused on the more immediate problem.

“What do you want to do?”

“It's just going to follow me,” Misaki pointed out. “It can feel my mana the same way I can feel the miasma leaking from its physical manifestation. We have to destroy it here, before it has enough time to change tactics.”

My eyes widened in shock. “Here? With all these people around?”

“We need to find it before it tries to possess a human.” Misaki finished her tea and stood up. I didn't know they were capable of such a thing, but if she was as worried about it as she sounded, we really didn't have much of a choice.

“It's getting closer,” she warned. “It doesn't know it's been detected yet, but that will not last for much longer. I think it's in the utility sub-level.”

“Shouldn't be any witnesses down there.”

The two of us turned and started walking toward the nearest hallway that led back into the employees-only area of the mall. Trash cans were lined up in the empty corridor. I didn't see any security cameras in the area, but that was likely to change once we descended further into the restricted access area.

“There's a freight elevator here that accesses every floor of the mall.” I pointed at a shutter at the end of the hallway. Unlike the pedestrian elevators used by the shoppers to go from floor to floor, this one was much larger and the shutter was painted with a flat industrial gray instead of the regular bright brushed metal finish.

“We need to hurry,” Misaki implored. “The specter just stopped moving. I think it knows that its quarry has been roused.”

“Is that bad?”

“Yes and no. It shouldn't try to possess someone if it no longer has the advantage of stealth. When possessing a mortal, the specter can't invoke its powers directly, in exchange for becoming much harder to detect.”

I pressed the elevator call button and beckoned for Misaki to join me inside the lift as the doors opened. “That doesn't make any sense. Wouldn't it want to become undetectable if it was found out?”

Misaki shook her head. “I already have a fix on it. Even if the specter were to possess a human, I would still be able to track it, but it wouldn't be able to use magic to fight or defend itself so long as it was inhabiting a body.”

“What happens to a person who gets possessed?” I suspected I knew the answer already. Misaki's haunted expression answered my question well enough before she opened her mouth to speak.

“The specter's spirit displaces the person's consciousness,” she explained. “It is not something that can be reversed or cured. Once a specter takes over, the person who once inhabited the stolen body is dead, even if their physical form still lives on.”

The elevator doors opened and revealed a reasonably well-lit corridor. The walls were dark, unpainted concrete and the floor was some sort of sealed, slick material that wasn't great for traction but was easy to keep clean. As I'd guessed before, the utility sub-level looked deserted.

“It's not moving,” Misaki noted. “This type... it's a lesser specter, not as powerful as the thousand-eyes type and nowhere near as smart. I think it's trying to ambush us.”

I shot her a disbelieving glare. “It's a little hard to ambush someone when the people you want to ambush knows where the fuck you are.”

Misaki made a sharp runic gesture with her fingers and the air around her body shimmered briefly. When my vision cleared up enough to see again, her fox ears were back and swiveling around to catch sounds, her tail swishing slowly, the fur sort of standing up a little on end.

“You look much better when you aren't hiding them.” My absent-minded comment elicited a giggle out of Misaki at the exact moment I realized I'd just said that aloud. I felt a little warmth in my cheeks, certain I was blushing again. Fuck, look at me, I'm acting like a lovestruck teenager when we're supposed to be hunting a nightmare abomination.

Misaki's expression became all business. “We're getting close. Be ready to strike the specter down after I tear down its defenses.”

Instinctively I knew that if I wanted the sword, the Relic, all I had to do was think it into being. It was a part of me now, bound to my spirit. No matter where I went, the Relic would come with me, hidden away inside. I imagined the Relic in my hand, picturing the gentle yet razor-sharp curve of the blade that could kill monsters.

Without fanfare or even any visual indicator at all, I felt weight and solidity form in my right hand. My fingers wrapped around the sword's hilt and I brought it into a sloppy guard position, my hands positioned at the top of the hilt and just above the pommel.

My skill with a sword could best be summed up as mediocre, and that's being overly generous. Most of my knowledge of fencing came from watching too many samurai dramas and the occasional epic fantasy flick. If I had to fight against an opponent actually trained to use a sword, they'd carve my ass up within seconds.

Specters didn't use swords, though, and really all I had to do was cut their core or whatever. It was a team effort: Misaki would use her spells to whittle the thing's defenses down, then I'd move in for the killing blow. It figured that she'd be the one doing the bulk of the work; as if I needed any more reason to feel uncomfortable.

Misaki stopped mid-stride and held a hand up. I opened my mouth to question her decision, but closed it just as quickly when I noticed how odd the shadows ahead of us looked. They seemed to dance and warp as if the sub-level was lit by flickering torchlight, rather than modern ultra-efficient LED arrays.

I understood now; the specter was hiding within the shadows, likely still trying vainly to carry out the planned ambush. Misaki, of course, was having none of that shit. She drew forth magical flame from empty air. Two huge, roaring balls of explosive elemental might engulfed her hands as she delivered her challenge to our opponent.

“Your ambush has failed. Come out and face us, specter!”

defilement

The specter certainly came out and faced us.

I somehow managed not to drop the sword when the monster emerged from the shadows, black clouds of stinking miasma billowing from beneath. Now the dark eyeball-man from before was disturbing enough, but this specter was on a whole new level of fucking disgusting.

Floating in the air, suspended on a shifting cloud of miasma, was a disembodied head. Not just any head, of course—no, this awful thing had to be something out of a bender-fueled nightmare.

The head's flesh was dead-pale with sickly blue and green spots. The cheesy, rotten meat that covered the head was littered with leaking sores and pustules. A great shock of greasy, filthy black hair extended back like a disgusting tail. A neck stump extended a few centimeters from the base of the floating head's skull. Black blood and maggot-like worms dripped from the neck stump.

All of that was gross enough, but the worst part about the head was it had three faces, all appearing to come from a different person. The central face was missing its nose, torn off and leaving the hollow nasal cavities of the skull underneath visible.

Misaki didn't seem to be put off by the thing's absolute hideousness. The smell alone was almost enough to make me vomit, but Misaki's eyes were narrowed into emerald crescents. Her attitude had completely shifted and she rushed forward, launching a great blast of flame at the floating severed head.

The monster let out a cacophonous roar of pain and rage. The sound was so incredibly loud that it felt as if an icepick had been driven through my eardrums. Misaki was shouting something at me, but I couldn't hear over the ringing in my ears.

The specter opened its mouth and spat foulness at me. I dodged and Misaki countered, bringing up a golden shimmering barrier. The disgusting missile splattered against the wall of force. I made the mistake of looking at it as it fell and instantly regretted it as I recognized the mangled remains of a huge leech, at least a dozen times larger than the natural creature it resembled.

“It is a pestilence specter,” Misaki told me as she backpedaled and blasted the thing with flame again, which wasn't doing anything good for the smell. Rotting flesh is bad enough without being set on fire.

I could barely hear her with my ears, but her words seemed to echo back through my mind, likely due to the bond between us. “What does that matter?”

“Very stupid but quite powerful. Don't let any part of it touch you.”

I stared at Misaki, frustration and disbelief plain on my face. “How am I supposed to get close enough to cut it, then?”

Misaki traced an intricate pattern of red-gold light suspended in the air. I felt a warm, tingling pressure envelop me with a shimmering golden aura. Somehow I instinctively knew the spell she'd just cast was a very potent defense that would allow me to shrug off several miasma blasts as if they were water.

It was a good thing she did it, too, because the specter gave up trying to spit huge maggots at me. A familiar black flash distorted my vision, but the pain, despair and creeping lethargy that came packaged with it before was absent. The golden shield absorbed the damaging effects of the miasma, dimming just a touch as the dark energy slowly ate away at the power sustaining the barrier.

I raised the sword up into a high guard and stepped forward, bringing the blade around in a powerful diagonal slash that utilized the momentum of my entire body. The blade's edge glowed bright yellow-white as the Relic's killing power awoke. It was hardly a skillful strike, but the pestilence specter was both not using a sword of its own, nor did it even have arms to hold one in, and thus could not possibly parry the blow.

The slash took the floating head across one of its faces, but the cut was shallow, my swing slowed as if it had become embedded in a mass of sticky fluid. Black blood welled from the cut and dripped to the ground. The monster howled and redoubled its attacks, sending wave after wave of miasmic blasts at me, but it was futile. Misaki's barrier held up even under that withering assault.

Misaki launched another great blast of fire, sending the monster reeling back on the defensive. This bought her enough time to inscribe a series of intricate flowing runes. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but the effect of Misaki's spell became apparent when the miasma cloud beneath the floating head demon started to lose its soot-black hue.

The pestilence specter appeared to stumble as it floated, which was some really weird shit because it didn't have legs. The miasma that was keeping it aloft and maintaining its physical defenses was being compromised. I realized that Misaki's spell was drawing the corruption from the fog.

“Cleave the core in two!” Misaki cried.

I lunged forward, raising the blade high above my head and bringing it down with all the strength I could muster. The edge of the Relic blazed like a line of molten metal as it came slashing down. Misaki's purifying spell continued, building in strength, dispersing even more miasma as the sword sliced through the creature's disgusting form.

With the specter's miasma weakened, the blade went through easily. White-hot enchanted steel vaporized rotted flesh and crumbling bone. I briefly saw the interior of the creature's skull, containing not a brain but a clotted, condensed mass of tangled and twisted miasma. I drew back in a half-spin to gain momentum, and threw a powerful but fast horizontal cut that split the writhing core in two.

The pestilence specter let out a terrible rattling shriek as the two halves of its core wilted and faded to the dull gray color of ash. The cloud of thinning miasma dispersed almost immediately and the split skull of the monster fell to the ground.

A small pile of gray ash was all that remained of the creature. Misaki walked over to the ash pile and slashed a series of short, jagged sigils with her finger. A tremendous bolt of lightning arced from her outstretched left hand and into the pile. I shielded my eyes from the explosion of fierce white light, trying to blink away the bright spots that danced in my field of vision.

“The specter has been permanently destroyed,” Misaki announced. As my vision cleared up, I wasn't surprised at all to see that she was right. There was no trace of the pestilence specter; not even a speck of ash remained.

I raised the sword's blade up to peer at the edge. It was still flawless, perfect as the day it came off the blacksmith's anvil. The potent astral energies imbued into the weapon rendered it virtually indestructible and impossibly sharp. I relaxed and let the weapon hang loosely at my side.

“Are there any others nearby that you can feel?”

Misaki shook her head. “No. There are none within the range of my ability to sense. I can perform an invocation that will let me seek out specters within a much larger radius, but it wouldn't be wise to attempt here.”

“You're right,” I said, glancing back at the corridor where we came in. “We need to get out of this place. We're not supposed to be here.”

“You're damned right you aren't supposed to be here!”

I whirled at the sound of the unfamiliar and angry masculine voice. Shit. Someone had been down here. I glanced at Misaki, gauging her response to the sudden turn of events. Maybe we'd get lucky and the worker hadn't actually seen anything.

Misaki's eyes narrowed and her tail lashed as a man dressed in work coveralls came out from around the corner nearby. He had a mobile phone held in one hand, but I couldn't tell if he'd made a call on it or just happened to be holding it while down here for whatever reason.

Well, this was certainly awkward. I was still holding the Relic. The longsword had a blade that was eighty centimeters in length alone. The hilt added up with the blade to give a weapon that was over a meter long. Not inconspicuous in the slightest. I wished I could release the Relic's physical form, but if the sword itself was bad enough, making it vanish into thin air would be even worse.

“Who the hell are you? What are you doing down here, and—” The maintenance worker's eyes bugged out as he noticed Misaki, her fox-like ears and tail clearly visible even in the dim lighting.

Misaki turned toward him and started walking. I opened my mouth to protest, trying to hold the Relic in such a way that it would appear less threatening, but it was pretty hard to make a sword like this seem innocuous.

The worker's eyes widened in fear. “Don't c-come any closer! O-or I'll call the police!”

“Cut him down if he tries to run,” Misaki stated, her voice flat and more cold than I've ever heard it. My eyes widened in shock, but only for a moment as I realized that Misaki was using the threat to keep the man from bolting.

I guess I'd have to trust her. I lifted the blade and dropped into a guard stance, holding the sword ready in the most menacing way I could. It wasn't even a very effective stance, but the maintenance worker wasn't likely to know that.

“N-no! Stay away, monster!”

For the briefest of moments, Misaki's expressionless mask fell, replaced with the barest hint of pain. I wondered if she had received the same sort of reception from other humans throughout her life. She quickly mastered her feelings, though, and continued to move closer to the worker.

Spell-flame blazed into existence on her right hand and drew itself out into a burning rope. I felt my confidence faltering a bit as I saw that flame. Was she going to kill the man simply because he saw something he shouldn't have?

The spell-flame shot forth and wrapped around the man's body, but no smoke rose as the flames made contact with the man's coveralls. Misaki's tail lashed as she bent the fire to her will, tightening the magic-fire-rope until it bound the man's arms and legs tightly.

“S-stay away!”

Misaki gave him a sad smile. “Don't worry; you won't remember any of this.”

Her fingers traced a long series of jumbled, chaotic symbols in the air near the bound man's head. I had a pretty good idea what she was going to do, because the spell was potent enough that simply staring too intently at the runes she inscribed was causing my thoughts to muddle and my focus to fray.

The worker's eyes fluttered closed as Misaki finished her invocation. She dismissed the spell-flame, the fiery rope winking out as if it had never been. My head cleared instantly and I was astonished to discover that the man's coveralls showed no sign of damage.

“He's only asleep,” Misaki explained as she eased the sleeping man down, propping him up against the wall of the corridor. She took a moment and placed two fingers against the inside of his wrist, checking his pulse.

I released the Relic's physical form. “How did you—no, what did you do? With the fire and everything. For a second there I was worried you were going to kill him!”

Misaki shook her head. “The spell-flame is completely under my control. It will only burn what I wish it to burn. I only wished to restrain him long enough to erase a portion of his memory.”

“So that's why you told me to cut him if he ran,” I reasoned.

“Yes. I wasn't sure I'd be able to stop him without injury if he attempted to flee. In a few minutes, he will awaken with no memory of his encounter with us.”

Satisfied that the man was unhurt, Misaki stood and walked back to my side. She motioned toward the elevator door. I met her eyes, my expression grim, only to see the same sort of expression on her own face.

“They're not going to give up,” I murmured, certain that I was right. “They're just going to keep throwing these fucking things at us, and they only need to get lucky once.”

“I know. I'm sorry, Karin.”

I patted Misaki's shoulder lightly. “There's nothing for you to apologize about.”

“But I allowed you to be bound to the Relic—”

“Which I picked up of my own free will,” I cut her off. “I made the choice and now I have to live with the consequences. I could have run, I could have just left you there to die. I chose to protect you, knowing that I might die in the process.”

Misaki turned away. “You didn't know. There was no way you could have known about any of this, that I wasn't just some human bystander who had been inadvertently caught in a dangerous situation.”

“It didn't matter. You were in trouble.”

“House Tsukimura will continue to send specters to try and recover it.” Misaki's tone was ominous. “They will not stop until they have the Relic again. Without the sword, they are at a significant disadvantage. Lord Isao will make the recovery of the Relic the entire clan's top priority.”

I took Misaki's hands into mine and gave them a reassuring squeeze. The despairing look in her eyes seemed to melt away as I gazed into them. She seemed to gain strength from my confident expression, even if it was mostly feigned.

“Then we will make it our top priority to ensure they fail.”

the white

By the time we made it back out of the mall, the clear sky had been replaced with a dull gray pall. It was much colder as well. I shivered slightly despite my heavy leather jacket, but Misaki seemed to be taking the cold weather in stride.

I glanced over at her. I really did miss the ears when she hid them. “It looks like we're going to be getting some snow soon. Do you want to head back home?”

Misaki was silent for a few moments, apparently considering her options. A smile played across her lips and she turned to me. “Can we stay out and see the snow? It's been... well, it's been a very long time since I last saw it snow.”

“It snows almost every year here,” I pointed out. “You said you've been awake for eight years, and it's snowed in the winter six out of those eight.”

“My former Ma—the Relic's previous wielder only traveled here two years ago. Until then, we were assigned to temporary mission areas in cooperation with servant Houses. Before I came here, I was in Brazil at such a house on a long-term assignment.”

I felt a swelling in my chest at her words. She intentionally corrected herself to avoid referring to the previous wielder of the Relic as her Master. I knew it was something to be happy about, but just how happy I felt was a little worrisome. My mind threatened to start digging up Thought Three, but I managed to beat it back and keep my attention focused on my immediate surroundings.

“Let's go to the park,” I suggested, trying vainly not to think about the way Misaki's joyful smile sent a pleasant shiver through me. “It's just across the plaza, so we won't even need to go get the car out of the parking deck.”

“Okay.”

The two of us walked for a few minutes in companionable silence, which was pretty unfortunate, because this left me more or less alone with my thoughts. I filled my head with ideas on what to make for dinner rather than that other thing, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.

Conversation, I told myself. Make some.

“W-what would you like to eat tonight?”

Either Misaki didn't notice the tremor in my voice or she chose to ignore it. She placed a slender finger against her chin as she considered various dishes. I'd already resolved to handle tonight's meal myself. The last thing I wanted her to do was to start slipping back into the servant mentality.

At least it was easier to change mindsets for an immortal spirit; a human subjected to the same shit Misaki had gone through would have needed years and years of professional counseling to even approach something resembling stable. Obviously her mind was built to be as resilient as possible.

“Usually I ate rice, tofu and steamed vegetables with the maidservants.” Misaki glanced at me and her brow furrowed. “What sort of meals are you used to eating?”

“Well, I've been sort of lazy when it comes to cooking, but I'm not half bad,” I told her as we walked through the decorative wrought-iron arch that led into the small park. The concrete sidewalk gave way to a narrow inlaid-brick path that winded through small rolling hills covered in grass that was a little faded in color.

I had a thought: why not introduce her to my favorite meal? “Well, we could just order a pizza and some good beer.”

Misaki's eyes lit up at the suggestion. “Ah! Pizza! I've heard of it, but I've never actually tried it myself. I've never tried beer, either. I was only permitted to drink water and occasionally sake during ritual meals.” She made a face. “I didn't like the sake. It was very pungent.”

I laughed. “I'm not much of a hard liquor person, either. Maybe an occasional vodka cocktail, but nothing straight. Beer is my poison of choice.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it and blowing a plume of smoke up into the air. Cold as it was, the smoke appeared to billow out and multiply as the water vapor from my exhalation condensed into a white fog.

I felt Misaki's hand brush against mine. Her fingers were slender, soft and felt delicate but strong. The tingling numbness of the cold started to fade as she pushed gentle warmth through her hand and into mine. Recalling exactly how proficient she'd been with throwing fire all around, it wasn't a surprise to me that she could carefully modulate her power for the mundane task of warming my hand.

And, not incidentally, warming my cheeks. I hoped the blustery weather would mask the blush that was spreading rapidly. Misaki either didn't notice those kind of cues—that would be understandable, considering her circumstances—or chose not to comment on them for my sake.

“Pizza is pretty customizable,” I continued, babbling on just to keep my brain from going into places I wasn't ready to go. “You can get just about any sort of toppings you'd want... onions, peppers, all kinds of meats, garlic, artichoke hearts. My usual place keeps a lot of unusual toppings, too, like Korean beef barbecue and Tandoori chicken.”

“I'm sure I'll like whatever you pick,” Misaki replied, squeezing my hand lightly. Before I was able to try and come up with some rejoinder to that, small white flakes began to fall from the sky.

“Ah, there it goes.”

Misaki's contented smile split into a wide grin at the sight of the falling snow. She reached out and giggled as a snowflake landed on her fingertip. I was surprised to see the tiny crystal remain intact, but it was easily enough explained if Misaki had drawn heat out of her fingertip to preserve the snowflake.

“It's so pretty!”

Not as pretty as you, I almost blurted out. Nope, Karin. Don't say it. Don't even go there. She's a centuries-old immortal spirit imbued into an enchanted sword and you're just a lonely, aimless, almost-thirty woman desperate for a fairytale romance. You've known her for all of a day. It'll never work. So stop it right now.

“Aw, it melted,” Misaki pouted in a singsong tone. She looked over at me and smiled as she danced around trying to catch more of the falling snow, likely hoping to find another snowflake to admire.

Yeah. Okay. Stopping it right now was hopeless. My heart and brain were both melting like the snowflakes she caught.

The snowfall had grown considerably more heavy within only the last few minutes, building up on the ground in a thin layer that wouldn't stay thin for long. The drive back home wasn't going to be much fun if it kept coming down like this. I puffed away on my cigarette, trying to forget how cold it was while I watched Misaki play in the snow. It only took a few minutes before she realized I was doing my best to hide my discomfort at the temperature drop.

“Karin, you're shivering,” she admonished me. “We should go back to your car and head home.”

“I'm okay,” I lied. Freezing my ass off was totally worth seeing that smile.

“No, you're not.” Misaki shook a finger at me in a chastising manner. “I can tell that your body temperature is already dropping a little. You don't handle cold weather very well, do you?”

I sighed. “Yeah, okay, let's get going. I'm getting pretty hungry, anyway. Come on, we'll get in the car, turn the heat on and I'll send the order for our dinner.”

I really should have known better. It would be damn near impossible to tell a fib about not being cold to a being that both had an innate mastery over elemental fire and was magically bound to my soul.

The walk back to the car had one advantage, though. I was cold and miserable enough that my mind was too busy being cold and miserable in order to start trying to dig up that thing I didn't want to think about. Misaki, again, seemed completely unaffected, even as small drifts of snow built up on her shoulders and the top of her head.

I brushed them off with my right hand, not caring that they were so cold it felt like I was being stabbed with thousands of tiny needles. It was counterproductive but I lit another cigarette, not caring that the nicotine would just cause my blood vessels to contract and probably make me even colder.

“Karin, why do you smoke?”

I blinked and looked over at Misaki. Her eyes were softened with obvious concern and curiosity. It was a question I hadn't really thought about much.

“It's not really a big deal these days,” I deflected. “Modern cigarettes aren't good for you, but they aren't really unhealthy, either. They definitely don't give you cancer and kill you like they did when my parents were kids.”

“That's not what I asked.”

I sighed and puffed a bit. “I don't know, really. I didn't start when I was a teenager like most people do. I just bought a pack at a liquor store one day, seven years ago. I guess... it's because I'm a weak person and I need something to help me get through the day.”

Misaki didn't respond immediately. I avoided looking at her, wondering if she viewed my habit as a failing, as something that would reflect poorly on one of those people who took upon themselves the sacred duty of hunting specters. The thought of displeasing her didn't sit well with me at all.

“I don't think you're a weak person,” she said after the long silence. “I do understand needing something to help get through the day, though.”

“The days are getting harder to get through. Now there are freaky-nightmare monsters with evil magic to deal with.”

Misaki nodded solemnly. “What we've faced so far is the least of them. It's only going to get more difficult and dangerous from here on out.”

“Then I'm glad I can rely on someone as sweet and lovely as you to help me get through the much harder days,” I replied, completely without thinking. Predictably, Misaki's eyes widened in surprise, growing as huge as saucers. She was taken off-guard and seemed to be at a loss for words.

Of course. The one time I'm not able to restrain my stupid girl-brain from spewing stupid girl-thoughts, she actually manages to pick up on the deeper meaning. Wait, what deeper meaning? That line was about as subtle as a knockout punch!

It apparently had a similar effect, because Misaki went completely silent. I had no idea what was going on in her head, not in the least because the invisibility charm still hid her ears. If those were visible I'd at least be able to tell if she was offended, upset, creeped out or, um, something else.

When we got to the car I flicked my spent butt into a nearby trashcan and tapped my phone's security release, unlocking the car doors and deactivating the security system. I opened the driver's side door and dropped into the seat. The few extra seconds of time Misaki took to get in caused my stomach to fold in upon itself.

Damn it, Karin, calm the fuck down. You don't even know if she's actually upset at you yet. It's too early to start running for the hills. I couldn't believe I just blurted that out without thinking. I mean, even if I intended to flirt, that would have been such a terribly lame line to use.

I started the motor, hearing the ethanol engine pop to life as well. The cold probably had the batteries behaving badly. Getting a new car would be priority number one if the AEGIS job was going to pay that much. Five dollars per liter was painful.

Once the heat was going, I pulled out my phone and opened up the ordering interface for my favorite pizza joint. I had an account, I was a regular. I had no life, either, apparently, because after ordering, I almost immediately received an instant message from Josh, the evening shift manager, asking if I really meant to order enough for two.

Yes, I really meant to. No, I didn't want to talk about it. Fuck you, no, I wasn't going to “take a picture” to prove it. Just get me my pizza and beer, thanks and goodbye. I didn't consider the prying questions to be offensive since Josh and I talked often enough and about enough things that we might even be considered friends, whatever those were.

I sighed and jammed my phone back into my jacket, put the car into gear and drove out of the parking lot. Misaki was still silent, but she was looking at me intently and perhaps a little expectantly. I wanted to explain, make an excuse, play it off as a joke, but I doubted that would actually work. It turned out that I wouldn't get a chance to, anyway.

“Karin?”

Her voice was certainly not upset. It was... something else.

“I, um, about what I said earlier—”

“Did you really mean that?” Misaki interrupted, cutting me off before I could end up in an even deeper hole while trying to dig myself out of the first one.

Inside my head my mind exploded into a universe of profanity, all directed at my own dumb ass. I didn't want to lie and make up some bullshit, I knew trying to deflect her would be completely ineffective and I really, really didn't want to tell her the truth.

Except I did. But I didn't. Fuck me.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel. The snow was already piling up and I had to use a good bit of my concentration to focus on driving at highway speeds, but the storm was causing traffic to slow down for safety's sake. I was grateful for the respite.

“Karin?” Misaki pressed. Her brilliant emerald irises transfixed me, piercing right through my sarcastic and cynical outer shell and striking the gooey squishy mess of a hopeless romantic beneath.

“... yes,” I mumbled, almost under my breath. Berating myself mentally again for my cowardice, I merged into the right-hand lane to take the exit leading to the main street near my apartment.

Damn it, I got myself into this, I had to be a big girl and deal with the consequences of my stupid mouth.

“Yeah, I meant it,” I said, more loudly this time. “I just—I apparently have no filter at all today. I'm sorry for being an inappropriate idiot.”

Misaki's lips curved into the sort of smile that both excited and terrified me.

“I'm not sorry you did. You aren't an idiot and it wasn't inappropriate, Karin,” she told me, quite firmly. “I've noticed how you look at me, how you get easily flustered when we talk, how you go so far out of your way for my sake. It has been... rather obvious.”

“Well, I just figured that since you'd been immersed in a retrograde culture for so long that I thought maybe you wouldn't understand—”

Misaki erupted into a fit of giggles, interrupting my poor excuse before I could even get it halfway out of my mouth. She gave me a look that could only be described as coquettish and leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms across her abbreviated chest.

“Karin, I spent a great deal of time with the maidservants,” she pointed out, as if she were explaining a simple concept to a particularly dense child. I wasn't offended at all, since at the moment I felt like a moron.

“Y-yeah, well, I just didn't think—”

“Maybe you should think more,” Misaki suggested, giggling. “The maidservants were discouraged from marrying and needed to be available for attendant duties, but what they did among themselves was usually overlooked as long as it wasn't conspicuous.”

I didn't expect that, but it made sense. “So, you're saying that the maids, they would, well, offer each other, um, intimate comfort?”

“It wasn't universal, but neither was it especially rare.”

Several moments of silence passed as I pulled into the parking lot, trying to find my marked parking spot. It wasn't all that easy with all the snow on the ground and in the air. I only had to turn around once before my addled and scrambled mind was able to match up obvious landmarks.

“I know that's not exactly the same thing,” Misaki continued, her tone shifting subtly to become more thoughtful. “Centuries ago, the maidservants were peasant women sold into indentured servitude. Most dreamed of husbands, children, a family to raise of their own. What comfort they sought in another maid's arms was borne from desperation.”

I didn't respond to that. My mind was full of fluffy thoughts right now and I didn't really want to consider the entirely fucked-up sort of bullshit that made up the world that Misaki suffered through for most of her life.

Well, we were home now and the delivery boy would hopefully be arriving within the next twenty minutes, so I killed the engine. Misaki opened her door and stepped outside. I followed suit. The snow was still coming down pretty hard, but we were relatively well-shielded from the icy wind by the apartment complex itself.

We took the stairs. I tapped my ID on the auto-lock and opened the door to the apartment. It was nice and warm inside as I'd set the thermostat before we left. Misaki followed me inside and shut the door behind her.

“I know you're not like that, Karin,” she said.

So much for the tiny shred of hope that she'd let the matter drop at least until after I got some alcohol in my system. I sat down on the edge of the bed near the small table with the ashtray and lit a cigarette.

“Not like what?”

“You aren't seeking comfort out of desperation,” Misaki clarified.

I sighed and puffed a bit. “Sometimes I feel like I am.”

“It's not the same thing. You aren't thinking about a husband, raising a half-dozen children, purchasing a plot of land to till for your own and an official voice on the village council.” Misaki's eyes went a little unfocused as she sifted through memories of the distant past. “Am I wrong? You are a woman, perhaps a little beyond marriageable age—”

“Hey! I'm only twenty-nine! You're over six hundred years old!”

“That has nothing to do with this,” Misaki insisted, her tone clearly amused. “I know you aren't the same.”

“No, it's not the same,” I agreed. “I have no interest in men at all. Never have, never will, never want to.”

Misaki frowned. “But you are not a maidservant to a noble family. You are free to do as you wish, you make your own decisions. You do important work that demands the use of your intellect rather than the simple labors of the body.”

“Yeah, so what?” I exhaled a plume of smoke up toward the ceiling, where the air filter and exchanger caught it and sucked it up before it could settle on the acoustic-textured ceiling and possibly stain.

“Why have you not already taken a wife?”

“I wouldn't describe it as 'taking' a wife, really,” I explained, a little uncomfortable, but trying to remind myself that Misaki was still working from a really old playbook. “As for why I'm not actively in a relationship now... ? I don't really know.”

The look Misaki gave me was dubious.

“Okay, okay, fine. I do actually know. You asked me why I smoked earlier—the conversation that started this conversation—and I told you that I was a weak person. You might contest that, but it's really true.”

Those fox ears laid back against her head. “I don't think it is.”

“I'm a little cowardly when it comes to this sort of thing,” I admitted. It wasn't exactly a lie—I was very, very bad at the whole dating and courtship thing—but neither was it the whole truth. I didn't like the dating process itself, which felt like nothing more than turning love into a commodity to be traded. Excuses, excuses.

“I don't have a lot of friends, and I don't like the process of dating. I'm not really big on going clubbing or barhopping. I really can't calm myself down when trying to talk to girls and, well, I'm afraid that I'll start really liking someone, only for them to turn me down in the end.”

“I think I understand.” Misaki offered a dangerous faint smile. “You've just never met anyone that you felt a strong enough connection with to overcome your fears of dealing with potential rejection.”

I tried my hardest to meet Misaki's eyes. “That's a very economical and accurate description of the situation, yes.”

“Until now.”

“Until now,” I agreed, again completely without thinking. The look on my face must've been one of abject horror. I sputtered, clearly intent on digging my hole even deeper. “I mean—that is, what I wanted to say is—”

A warm finger pressed against my lips, silencing my objections. Misaki gave me a look that defied description. Her ears flicked a bit, but seemed to be perked straight up. Her fluffy tail swished around. I couldn't get an accurate read on her emotional state at all.

“Karin,” Misaki murmured. “You've been wonderful. You're the first wielder of the Relic who has treated me with dignity and respect. In the past six centuries, the blade has passed through a great many hands. House Tsukimura are only the most recent. I've been in the custody of two other noble Houses, and not a one of them ever viewed me as anything but a living weapon, a tool to be used to slay specters.”

I couldn't really come up with an appropriate response to that. She didn't sound like she was finished yet, either, so I remained silent and simply listened. Misaki sat down on the edge of the bed next to me—very next to me. I flinched slightly as I felt her tail curl around my lower back.

“There is nobody in the world with whom I'd rather be with than you,” Misaki finished, leaning forward so that she had to look up at me to meet my eyes.

“B-but we've only known each other for two days! Not even two days! It just—it doesn't work like that. This isn't a fairy tale where the prince is swept off his feet by the princess within hours after they first lay eyes on each other.”

Misaki giggled and scooted closer, leaning against me. The warmth emanating from her body felt really, really good, which was definitely, absolutely very dangerous. My brain was starting to melt into a puddle of goo inside my head, which was not very useful for coming up with intelligent responses.

“What are you—”

“Shh. I'm telling you that I like you, too, and that I want to return your feelings. That's all I'm saying.”

To say I was stunned would have been an understatement. A really, really fucking big understatement, even if what she said would have been incredibly obvious to pretty much anyone who wasn't a moron. I guess it must've shown in my face, because Misaki started giggling again, but after a moment her laughter died down completely. She took hold of my chin and turned me to face her.

“Misaki...”

“It's hard, to be all alone in the world,” she murmured. “You don't need to be afraid any more, Karin. I'm with you, with you all the way.”

Warm, petal-soft lips pressed against mine. I closed my eyes as I felt Misaki's free hand coming around and drawing me close in a warm embrace. I felt my muscles go limp, my nerves go numb and my mind turn to mush. I feebly tried to wrap my arms around Misaki's lower back, but I could barely move or function.

I could feel the soft fur of her tail against my lower back, the gentle squeeze of her embrace. Her lips tasted of faintly sweet fruit. The scent of flowers, the aroma of cherry blossoms in full bloom, filled my nostrils. My entire being felt cool, calm and clear. For one single, solitary moment, all was right with the world.

Misaki broke the kiss and drew just slightly back. Her lips curved into that trademarked dangerous faint smile of hers.

“Um, that was... that was really good,” I managed.

Her ears twitched, laying flat and forward. “It was really good for me, too.”

“There were definitely some sparks there.”

“Oh, yes,” Misaki agreed, her voice becoming sultry. “Lots of sparks.”

My phone rang.

Misaki giggled as I answered the notification. It wasn't a video or voice call, but an instant message from the delivery boy letting me know that he was at the gate. I replied with the daily guest gate code and set the phone down.

“Is that our meal?”

“Yeah, it's here.” I stood up and stretched a little before walking to the door. I waited a few seconds to hear the knock before opening it. A very familiar young man in his early twenties with a short-cropped, peroxide-bleached haircut stood holding two pizza boxes and a six pack of dark amber ale.

“Got your pizzas right here, Karin. Did you pay already when you ordered?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I had Josh add it onto my tab. He just charges it to my credit card once a month.”

“Shit, if it weren't for us, you'd starve, wouldn't you?”

“If it weren't for me, you'd go out of business,” I countered. “I'll have you know, I do know how to cook. I just don't feel like it most days and I really like pizza and beer.”

“Sure, sure, go ahead and tell yourself that.” The delivery boy, Alan, snickered, catching a glimpse of Misaki through the open door. She smiled and waved to him. “Ooh, she's cute. Never thought I'd see you actually bring someone home, not since that big knock-down, drag-out with what's-her-name—that redhead? Jessie, right?”

“H-hey! Mind your own business,” I snapped, feeling my cheeks heat up under Alan's gentle ribbing. I did my best to block any further view of Misaki with my body, but it was probably too late. He'd already caught a good, long look at her with her vulpine features completely visible. Considering Alan's nerdy interests, though, I doubted that he'd actually think it was anything unusual.

“Fine, fine. You've got exceptional taste, at least. Cosplay girls are the best! Tell her the kitsune set looks great!”

“Just get out of here, Alan,” I groused, more than a little relieved he mistook Misaki's ears and tail for an eclectic and nerdy fashion sense. “The snow's going to bury your car if you don't get moving and we would like to eat our dinner in peace.”

“See ya in two days, Karin.”

After shouting a few good-natured swear words at him, I shut and latched the door behind him, precariously balancing the pizza and beer on one arm. Misaki came over to help relieve some of my burden. She took the beer from the top and set it down on the larger dining table.

We deployed the pizzas. I opened one of the boxes and the most wonderful smell started to waft off the hot, melted, caramelized mozzarella cheese. Misaki darted into the kitchen and retrieved plates.

“This looks amazing,” she murmured, staring at the pizza, wide-eyed.

“It is amazing. This place is makes the best pizza I've ever had in my life. Get yourself a few pieces, grab a beer and let's eat.”

caffeine

I woke up the next morning expecting to have a hangover, at least, but I felt remarkably rested, energized and ready to face the day. I wondered how much my new circumstances had to do with that.

“Mm.” Misaki opened one eye and smiled at me.

“Good morning. Want some coffee or tea?”

“Tea.”

I sat up and slipped off the mattress. Misaki was still mostly buried beneath the sheet and comforter, clearly enjoying the warmth. Outside, the snow was once again falling and condensation clouded the windows to the point I could barely see through them.

I felt a spring in my step that I hadn't felt in years. Part of this was due to the job offer from AEGIS. I would be making just over twice my salary at the Records & Licensing Agency, not counting the initial signing bonus that I'd managed to wrangle out of Agent Williams when I spoke to him last night.

Clearly I was much better at contract negotiation when inebriated.

I was signing on as an independent agent, rather than a regular member of the unit. This didn't surprise me all that much. Most of the AEGIS field agents were former Special Forces types with combat training that made my pathetic skills look like the equivalent of a schoolyard delinquent. People like me, the irregulars with no formal military training, were sort of put on retainer.

Operational security meant Williams couldn't tell me how many others there were, but the indication I got was “not many.” With the method of creation presumably lost to time, wielders of True Relics were likely vanishingly rare. The sort of financial incentives AEGIS was willing to casually throw at me spoke volumes.

Williams hadn't told me much and I doubted that I'd ever truly be “in the know” with the agency. I was told that I wouldn't have a nine-to-five schedule, that I'd set my own schedule as I worked my cases. Since I didn't really have a social life to speak of, it worked out fine for me. Travel would definitely be a part of the job. I wasn't exactly worldly but I was reasonably sure I could deal with a travel-heavy job. I did speak three languages, after all. Sort of. My Japanese was pretty bad and my Korean was even worse.

I walked into the kitchen and filled the teapot with water, setting it on the stove to boil. Misaki might love tea, but I needed coffee and I needed it now. I opened up a fresh bag of grounds and set the coffee maker to work.

Aside from the AEGIS job, the other source of my new-found cheer was currently laying in my bed, still curled up underneath the blankets. I could see a stray glimmer of red-tinged gold peeking out from the tangled comforter. Misaki seemed singularly unwilling to get out of bed, which didn't surprise me in the slightest considering the weather.

A few minutes later and I walked back over to the bed, carrying a mug in each hand. I set the tea-containing mug on the table near the foot of the bed and sat down near it, sipping my coffee pensively. I pulled a cigarette from the pack on the table and lit it.

I glanced at the lump underneath the blankets. “Enjoying yourself?”

“It's very warm,” came the contented response.

“Your tea is ready, by the way,” I told her. There was some movement under the comforter and Misaki emerged at the foot of the bed. Her voluminous mass of hair was disheveled, but her ears were perked up and her eyes clear and attentive. She sat down next to me and took her tea from the table, blowing on it slightly before taking a sip.

“You know, until I met you, I never actually slept in a bed before,” Misaki admitted.

“What, really?” I gawked at her through a rising tendril of smoke. “In six hundred years you've never once slept in a bed?”

“No, never,” Misaki murmured, her ears drooping slightly forward. She sipped at her tea and didn't bother trying to hide the pink flush on her cheeks. “Previous wielders of the Relic would always order me to disperse my body and lay dormant within the sword.”

“Why?”

“Maintaining my physical form draws mana from the Relic's wielder,” she explained as she drank her tea. “The previous wielders would not allow me to draw energy for what they considered frivolities.”

“That's stupid. Maintaining your existence isn't a frivolity. And didn't they also make you play servant and do all sorts of stupid and pointless cleaning and cooking tasks that any idiot could do? Wasn't that also a waste of mana?”

Misaki's blush intensified. “W-well, if I'm left within the Relic for too long, I grow weaker to the point where I would need to draw upon a significant amount of mana to return to my full strength.”

“I guess that makes sense, but still...”

“It also served to limit my autonomy,” she continued, her expression becoming troubled. “I can only act on my own when I manifest physically. When my spirit withdraws inside the Relic, I can communicate with the wielder, but I can't actually do anything.”

I didn't respond to that. The last thing I wanted now was to get myself all fucking pissed off about the horrible things Misaki had been subjected to by the Relic's wielders and their power-hungry families.

“B-but since you can't use your mana for anything, you probably don't even notice that I'm drawing upon it.” Misaki looked at me expectantly. “Um, can you? If you can, and it's painful or tiring, I would be happy to ease your burden—”

I held a hand up to stop her. “It doesn't bother me. Really.”

She didn't look convinced. I set my coffee cup down and took one of her hands in my own, squeezing it lightly.

“Look, Misaki, if it was a problem I would definitely tell you, but it's not. I can feel the connection between the Relic and my... soul or whatever, but it's just there. It doesn't hurt or make me feel tired. I'm aware of it, but it doesn't feel like much of anything.”

Misaki's expression became pensive. “That's interesting.”

“What is?”

“That you can notice it at all,” she said. “That indicates receptivity, but drawing mana from a receptive should feel tiring, even a little painful at times. Curious.”

I didn't really know what she was going on about. “I told you, it doesn't feel tiring or hurt. It just feels like a little tickle, a light brush on my consciousness. It's not unpleasant at all. Actually, I sort of like it.”

“You do?”

“Mm-hm. It's a reminder.”

Misaki blinked and tilted her head quizzically. “Of what?”

“That you're with me.”

Her blush threatened to take over her entire face. I laughed and puffed on my smoke a little before stubbing it out in the ashtray.

“Y-you've been so kind to me,” she mumbled.

I drained the contents of my coffee mug. “Yes, that's usually what people do when they like someone.”

“B-but I'm just a—”

I placed a finger on her lips, silencing her mid-sentence. “What's this nonsense I hear coming out of your mouth? You've been so much more assertive since we killed the specter in the mall. It's been really nice.”

Misaki didn't say anything.

“Don't start down that road again,” I warned her, keeping my tone light. “If you do, I'll get mad, and you really don't want to see me mad. I'm serious.”

She smiled a little, but still looked troubled. “Because you aren't restricting my access to mana, I'm more free to act according to how I feel and think, but I don't want to be a burden on you.”

“I just told you that you aren't.”

“I don't know if it's safe for you if I remain in my physical form for extended periods of time.” Misaki's voice was troubled and her ears drooped down just slightly. “I have no idea if there's an upper limit on the mana required.”

“I'm sure there is,” I said, trying to sound confident, though in truth I wasn't. I'm sure she knew, but I went on anyway. “These things seem to have rules in the same way natural forces do. It's not all arbitrary.”

Misaki's pensive expression returned. “That's true.”

“It may be called magic, but the scientific method can still be applied to it since it's obviously not random, has limitations and behaves in certain predictable ways.” I stood up to refresh our drinks and returned to the edge of the bed. The digital clock on the coffee maker told me I had another three hours before we were to meet the AEGIS handler, and I was determined to make the best of them.

“That makes sense.” Misaki accepted her second cup of tea and was soon sipping away contentedly.

“It has to, or else AEGIS wouldn't be able to use technology to replicate the same sort of effects,” I reminded her. “Anyway, we're getting a bit off track. The point is, when we fought the zombie-head-thing in the mall sub-level, you were drawing off my mana to use all of that magic, right?”

“Yes. I have no choice but to draw mana through the Relic's wielder. It was a condition of the invocation that binds me to the sword and anchors me into physical reality.”

“A security feature?” I wondered.

Misaki nodded. “The bound spirit depends on the wielder for the energy needed to exist and to fight, to prevent the spirit from turning on its master. I understand the early artificial spirits did not have this limitation and would often go rogue.”

“Just another shackle attached to the slave collar,” I growled. “Considering all that you went through, I can't really blame them.”

Misaki nodded but offered no comment. I drank my coffee, deciding against lighting another cigarette. The roads would be problematic, to say the least, and we needed to get ready to meet our point of contact with AEGIS. Time enough to get a shower, throw on some clothes, half-ass my makeup and hair and get going before the snow and the stupid people on the road adversely affected traffic.

“I'm going to get in the shower.” I let my gaze settle on Misaki's disheveled mop and smiled faintly. “You might want to do something with your hair. There's a brush and comb near the vanity.”

She reached up and felt the mass of tangles in her locks. “Um, this is a new experience, to be sure...”

“One of the downsides of sleeping in a bed, I'm afraid.”

terminus

The AEGIS outpost was not all that far from my apartment, but getting there took over an hour, thanks to the weather and the traffic. It turned out to be a good thing that we left with two hours to spare. He hadn't been exacting about the time, so I wasn't worried about showing up a little early.

The outpost was in the downtown area, on the edge of the financial district, an unassuming three-story office building that advertised itself as a small firm that specialized in medical scanning technology. About as far away as could be from a secret government agency that fought supernatural monsters.

I stepped out of the car and shut the door. Misaki followed a moment later and I engaged the security system. The building had a small parking lot, but it was almost empty, likely due to the heavy snow. I glanced over at Misaki and gave her an encouraging look.

She didn't look cold—I wasn't sure if an immortal spirit could get cold—but she wore warm clothing just the same. I think she wanted to keep from attracting too much attention, but I convinced her not to use the invisibility charm to hide her ears and tail.

Those ears flicked a bit as snow built up on them. I was a little worried that she'd be too nervous for something like this, but she looked confident and at ease. I hoped I looked the same because I really didn't feel that way. Starting a new job was always a little nerve-wracking.

We walked together, around the building and to an unmarked side entrance. The front lobby was part of the outpost's cover and was closed ostensibly due to the weather, but the outpost itself was active.

The side door was single-wide and had no windows. A small keypad was protected by a flip cover; this I opened and entered in the eight-digit code that Agent Williams provided me after we spoke the night before. The green LED lit and the door lock disengaged.

Misaki's ears swiveled toward the far side of the narrow alleyway between the buildings. “I can hear the sound of a heavy electric motor operating.”

“Can you tell what it is?” I asked as I opened the door. She glanced down the alley and narrowed her eyes. Her fingertips formed a complex runic pattern and mystic power woke within her, enhancing her vision tremendously.

“It's an automated gun turret. It moved into a dormant position.”

No surprise there. Obviously AEGIS had the place set up to deal with any unwanted visitors. I hoped they didn't have the thing programmed to open fire on anyone who entered the code incorrectly.

“Come on,” I said, walking through the open door. Misaki followed me and the door shut behind us, leaving us alone in a darkened corridor. The door lock engaged and the lights brightened, illuminating a door at the far end of the corridor. The walls of the corridor had a mirror finish that reflected light in a weird way.

“One-way glass,” I noted. There were probably more defenses behind the glass, but we were authorized and expected. I motioned for Misaki to follow and we headed down the corridor and opened the door at the end.

On the other side of the door was a small central lobby. A reception desk sat at the other end, in front of another corridor that led deeper into the facility. Inside the lobby was a few comfortable couches with matching coffee tables and a small refreshments area with a coffee maker, electric hot water dispenser and several wrapped pastries. I didn't bother to study the room any further, but instead approached the desk.

The receptionist, a slender middle-aged man with thinning hair, smiled as I approached the desk. “Miss Ashley, is it?”

“Correct.”

“Thank you for coming to present yourself on such short notice,” the receptionist continued. I noticed a suspicious, vaguely pistol-sized bulge beneath his coat and mentally added “security guard” to his job title.

“Agent Williams told me that I'd be meeting with a handler here to discuss the particulars of my contract with AEGIS.”

“That's correct.” The receptionist/guard pressed a button on his console and started speaking into his headset. “Yes, sir, Miss Ashley and her companion are both here. Yes, I'll give them a pass. Thank you, sir.”

I waited while the receptionist/guard reached into a drawer beneath his desk and drew out two small black squares made of plastic. He tapped them both against a small metal square built into his console and entered a long string of commands into the system.

“Hold onto that. It's a temporary pass that will allow you passage through the automated security system. Once your paperwork has been processed, your biometrics will be added to the database and you needn't worry about carrying a pass.”

“Security is tight here,” I observed.

“Unfortunately true, but I'm sure you understand the necessity. Your handler is in conference room eight. Head down the corridor behind me; you can't miss it, it's the only one with the lights on.”

I nodded my thanks. Misaki accepted her black square and placed it securely inside the pocket of her skirt. I nodded my approval, both of her actions and her choice of clothing for the day.

Misaki chose to wear a short black skirt over a pair of heavy winter tights dyed a light purple. She'd spent a half an hour last night before bed altering her new outfits in order to accommodate her tail, but she only managed to get the one done before becoming too sleepy to continue. Up top she wore a pink long-sleeve fitted tee with a plunging V-neck underneath a heavy black hoodie decorated with a cute pattern of cartoon cats. Her feet were encased in a pair of black leather lace-up ankle boots.

She certainly looked more stylish than I did. I tended to be lazy about my clothes when it was this cold. During the warmer months it was hard to keep me out of a skirt or dress on my days off, but work generally mandated pants for practicality's sake. My previous job's dress code absolutely prohibited anything I actually wanted to wear.

No problem; AEGIS didn't care how I dressed. I ended up going with skinny jeans and high leather boots. I had a few pair of stonewashed stretch winter jeans lined with fleece that felt great on my legs and kept the cold at bay. The rest of my outfit was rounded out with a mint-colored top and my usual battered jacket. My automatic, definitely not the cutest accessory in the world, was safely stored in a padded shoulder holster rig beneath the jacket, a pair of spare magazines on the other side.

I pushed the door to conference room eight open and walked inside, Misaki following right behind me. A woman was seated at the head of the conference table. She was clearly at least part Asian, probably mixed Chinese-American, not much older than me and was dressed neatly in a navy blue skirt suit and jacket.

“Miss Ashley, I presume? And this is... oh, I see. The spirit of the Relic.”

“Yes, I'm Karin Ashley and this is Misaki.” I was a little put off by her tone, but I didn't let any of my annoyance show. Perhaps she was like this to everyone she met. It didn't necessarily mean she was negatively predisposed to Misaki.

“A pleasure. Please, take your seats.”

I did as she bade and Misaki followed suit. I watched her ears swivel toward the handler. The woman displayed no reaction at all to Misaki's fox-like features. I placed my hands atop each other on the table and listened as our handler began to speak.

“My code name is Star. Unfortunately, due to your status, there are a great deal of things you won't be privy to. Operational security is extremely important for AEGIS, you must understand.”

“Yes, ma'am.” See, I can be polite when I want to. I'm not always spewing out profanity like a dog sheds in the summer.

“As an independent spirit hunter on indefinite retainer with AEGIS, you will have some restrictions placed upon your person. Violation of these regulations will lead to disciplinary action, up to and including loss of retainer fees, mission bonuses and possible revocation of your contract.”

And, if you fuck up really really bad, potentially becoming one of AEGIS's targets yourself, I added silently. Star didn't mention that, but it was pretty obvious that when she said “revocation of contract,” such a disciplinary action included revocation of existence.

Star tapped a few keys into the console built into the conference table. The huge flat panel display behind her came to life and displayed a fairly succinct and to-the-point list of things that could get me into trouble.

“Contract spirit hunters are given considerably more freedom and less supervision than our own agents,” Star continued. “For example, you do not have an office and will not be required to come in to work five days a week. If I need to speak to you in person regarding a case, I will arrange for a meeting in advance.”

I tapped my phone against the table. “How will contact be handled regularly?”

“We'll provide you with a secure access system that will allow you to accept encrypted messages from me.” Star pressed another button and several images of what appeared to be a secure messaging application. “We will communicate through encrypted instant messaging unless face-to-face contact is required.”

“What kind of warning will I have for assignments abroad?”

“Under normal circumstances, ample warning. AEGIS front-line operatives will handle rapid-deployment situations. You and Misaki, as independent spirit hunters, will be deployed for jobs we consider appropriate for your skill set. If we decide that your skills are needed abroad, we will give you at least a week's notice in order to close out any open cases you may have.”

“So what do I have to do to maintain my retainer fee?”

Star tapped another key, changing the display to a sample list of contracts for specific missions. “Regularly take on cases and investigate incidents. So long as you complete your tasks successfully, AEGIS considers you to be a good investment.”

I pointed to a mark next to the list of sample contracts. “What does this addendum signify?”

“When a specter's core is destroyed, the remnants of the condensed miasma can be purified into a raw substance known as 'quintessence.' This material is highly valued by AEGIS and the addendum lists requirements for the collection of quintessence.”

“Does this have something to do with why you're paying us so much to do so little?” I wondered, my eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Star actually laughed. I took it as a good sign. “Of course. The spirit of your Relic has the ability to convert the impure miasmic ash of the specter's core into quintessence. This substance is extremely useful for many applications.” Star tapped another command into the console and the screen changed again.

This time the screen displayed diagrams of a bladed weapon and a strange gauntlet-like device. The sword—actually it was more like a very long dagger—was clearly designed in an all-business tactical sort of way. The double-edged blade was perhaps forty centimeters in length, about four centimeters across. The blade's shape and cross-section was designed both for slashing and thrusting attacks. It resembled any number of military fighting knives I'd seen throughout my career, only scaled up.

The gauntlet appeared to be a nylon fingerless glove studded with what appeared to be random bits of metal. The blade's function was a lot more obvious to me than whatever this thing was supposed to be. The only thing I noticed that was interesting about the two objects on screen were that they both possessed what appeared to be some sort of receptacle that would accept a small cartridge.

“These devices are emulation systems created by AEGIS that allow our front-line operatives to permanently destroy specters. Our hunters are typically equipped with these systems, allowing them to fight specters on equal footing.”

I saw where she was going, despite how sparse her explanation was. “And these things are powered by quintessence, correct?”

“Yes. Without it, we would be easily outmatched. While practitioners of magecraft do still exist, they are very small in number, reclusive and do their best to keep their abilities a closely-held secret. Few would have any interest in working with AEGIS. I suspect Miss Misaki has more knowledge on this subject than I.”

I glanced at Misaki. She looked only slightly mortified by the fact that Star had essentially placed the spotlight on her. My lips curved into an encouraging smile.

“Y-yes.” Misaki straightened up in her chair and tried her best to look confident. “In the past, powerful clans of spirit hunters would possess tremendous power both arcane and political. They were capable of communicating instantly over long distances with their magic, something the rest of humanity wouldn't be capable of until the technology was developed hundreds of years later.”

“The spirit hunter clans suppressed and hoarded this knowledge to increase their own power,” Star continued. “For this reason, the number of modern practitioners are small and limited exclusively to a handful of elite dynasties.”

“The same ones who summon the specters in the first place,” I reasoned.

“Many of them, yes. Some knowledge of magecraft is required to call forth a specter and temporarily bind it to the physical world, but the amount of power necessary to summon a specter is considerably less than what is necessary to destroy one.”

“I'm sure that always ends well,” I muttered, my tone sarcastic.

“There are many reasons why specters are summoned, but to increase the power of one's magecraft is a common enough reason. Specters, like all spirits, are capable of far more powerful astral manipulation than any human and thus can have far-reaching effects. All specters will eventually cause chaos, death and destruction. This is why AEGIS has sworn to destroy any specter summoned into the world.”

It was a lot to take in at such short notice. Usually such data-heavy lectures were enough to put me to sleep, but I was trying my best to take this job seriously. After all, I took the salary seriously and after having run-ins with two different types of specters, I knew that the missions themselves would be deadly serious.

“I understand this is a lot to take in all at once, but it's important,” Star continued. “The data we share with you here and during your cases can quite easily be the difference between a successful mission and potential loss of life.”

“I already explained some things to her,” Misaki pointed out.

“Good. The better informed the two of you are, the more success you will have at clearing cases. An encrypted file will be sent to your mobile device when you leave this outpost. It will self-extract and allow you to decrypt messages from me and access the list of active contracts.”

It wasn't hard to tell that the meeting was over. I pushed out from underneath the conference table and stood. Misaki followed suit. I reached out and shook Star's hand, surprised at how strong her grip was. Guess I really shouldn't have been surprised, though, since as a case manager she probably worked her way up through the ranks and was once in the same or similar position as me.

“Good day, Miss Ashley, Miss Misaki.” Star's faint smile widened as Misaki dipped into a graceful and very formal courtly bow. “AEGIS expects great things from the both of you. Please, return the way you came and leave the temporary security passes with the receptionist.”

act two

/

together

casework

I blinked and tried to hold my eyes open, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult as the hours dragged on. If this was what normal police work was like, I was really very glad I'd never actually become a detective.

I glanced over at my partner and my expression soured. As usual, Misaki looked the pristine picture of perfection, alliteration totally intended. Unlike me, of course, Misaki drew virtually all of her power from my own mana stores. This worked out for both of us because I had no idea how to use the astral energy sleeping within.

It had been two weeks since we accepted the offer as independent spirit hunters on retainer to the government supernatural crisis-management agency, AEGIS. So far it was a pretty sweet gig. We took on cases that AEGIS offered to its collaborators and did what we had to do to find the specter in question and take it out.

Most of the cases were straight-up kill orders, the agency's own investigators having done the legwork and deciding the specters in question were powerful enough to require a True Relic wielder to take them out. Specters that powerful would leave behind a considerable amount of miasmic ash that Misaki could convert into quintessence.

AEGIS handled the indies in the best way it could, I supposed. They found us jobs to do that fit the various skills we had, but that wasn't even the most important part. There were methods to convert miasmic ash without a bound spirit's aid, but they weren't nearly as efficient.

They didn't actually need us so much as they wanted us on their side. They wanted to make sure we didn't end up fighting them. The other stuff was mostly just a bonus, and yeah, there were times where a True Relic and its associated bound spirit were the minimum level of firepower needed to take out a particular target.

Tonight, however, I was doing an investigation mission. These were pretty common for us, with Star being almost fanatical about tailoring the offered contracts to the indie's particular skill set. Indeed, my ability to ferret out mysteries was considerably more well-developed than my combat prowess. And that's putting it mildly.

“I'm hungry,” I complained. “How much longer do we have to stay out here?”

“I'm not sure, but I don't think the specter is going to stay hidden much longer. The information we received from Star suggested that this one makes regular moves during random intervals each night, but the random intervals are contained within a fairly narrow window of time.”

I suppressed a groan. That “narrow window of time” was closer to six hours in length, which wasn't all that short when you really wanted something to eat. I reached into the pocket of my battered leather jacket and pulled out a small package of sour candy, popping one in my mouth. It sure as hell wasn't a cheeseburger, but it was something and it got rid of the stale taste.

Misaki's ears twitched and she traced a runic pattern with the fingers of her right hand, using some sort of magic that would allow her to expand her ability to sense miasma. I knew she wouldn't be able to expand it too much without essentially becoming an active sensor and risk tipping off the specter we were trying to find.

“Anything yet?” I ate a few more of the sour candy, wishing I had a sour margarita instead, along with a big fucking burrito. And a cheeseburger.

She glanced at me and grinned. “It's moving. I've got a fix on it. Two blocks from here, that mid-height office building on the left side. I think it's been possessing a body.”

I blinked. “Why would it do that?”

“Remember, a specter possessing a body can't be detected easily.” Misaki shifted in her seat and concentrated on her seeking spell. “Probably the specter's been reusing it to hide periodically.”

“Wouldn't the people in the building, I don't know, smell a corpse?” I wrinkled my nose and started up the engine. The car's electric motors whirred to life. Thankfully the batteries were good and we'd avoid burning expensive ethanol. Reminding myself for the fiftieth time that evening just how much AEGIS was paying us, I pulled away from the curb and started down the street, heading toward the direction Misaki indicated.

“Not a corpse, a body,” Misaki corrected. “Possession doesn't kill the body, just the mind so that the spirit's mind can take its place. If we manage to find the specter before it hides inside the body again, we'll likely find a living, breathing body, but devoid of consciousness.”

I made a face and sidled up alongside the office building in question. It was well past midnight, but the building wasn't completely shut down. Lights were visible on several of the floors. Well, the janitorial staff needed light to see, but I also suspected there were more than a few execs burning the midnight oil.

“You think her theory's sound?”

Misaki nodded as we got out of the car. “It fits the facts we've been able to determine. The specter hides in a body for most of the day, pops out for about an hour, does something, then goes back into hiding again.”

“Yeah,” I muttered. I pulled a cigarette out of my jacket and lit it, blowing out a plume of smoke. “Star was right on the money. It's got to be industrial espionage. There's really no other explanation for something like this.”

“I've got an exact location,” Misaki announced.

“Where?”

“Twelfth floor, near the east side of the building. Come on, let's go before the thing disappears again and we're stuck out here for another six hours tomorrow.” She took off like an arrow, heading for the looming office building.

Since another stakeout was the last thing I wanted—right now my mind was completely focused on Mexican food and booze—I ran after Misaki, catching up with her easily. Her physical prowess wasn't great, even for an immortal spirit; her original creators must've prioritized magical power over brute strength.

One of the downsides of being indie was that we didn't get those shiny FBI shields that would let us into places we otherwise couldn't go. If we needed to get through red tape, our handler would give us some manner of falsified paperwork necessary to complete whichever case we might be working. In an investigation like this, though, we were pretty much on our own. Since Star had no idea where the specter was in the first place, there was no way she could get us some fake papers to bullshit our way into the building.

That left breaking in the old-fashioned way. I stopped next to Misaki at the side of the building where she had already started tracing a runic sigil of glowing light into the air. She was working some powerful magic and I had a pretty good idea what she had in mind to get us inside.

“Time to fly like the wind?”

Misaki smiled, but didn't respond, instead concentrating on her invocation. She'd done this once before on one of our first cases when a specter turned out to be the sort that had wings and could fly. That time, though, she only cast the spell on herself, took off into the air and chased the damn thing down, burning its wings off with her signature flame. She made a case that could have been a real pain in the ass into a fast, easy kill and a wealth of quintessence.

The runic circle blazed with brilliant golden light and I felt myself becoming lighter. My feet started to leave the ground. Gravity still seemed to affect me, but I knew if I willed myself up, then by the stars I would go up!

Misaki was already hovering a few meters above the ground. She reached a hand out to me and beckoned for me to follow. I willed myself to accelerate up and... I did. My body started to rise, faster and faster into the air. It didn't take long for the both of us to ascend to the level of the 12th floor.

The wind was a bit stronger this far off the ground. It whipped my hair around my face and howled in my ears. I turned to Misaki and nodded, willing myself to float closer to the window. The office beyond this particular window was darkened and empty, making it as good a place as any to breach.

I flicked my cigarette butt into the wind and drew my automatic. No, I wasn't going to shoot the window open—that would be the opposite of stealthy—but I wanted to be ready to fight just in case the specter detected the magic Misaki used.

Misaki floated to the window and placed her hand on it, waking the power within her once again. Silver-white light pulsed through the glass and metal making up the exterior of the building, forming a circle about a meter in diameter. She tapped the center lightly three times.

Within the bounds of the circle all matter disappeared, phased out of physical reality into an extra-dimensional space. The edge of the glass was impossibly smooth and clean, as if it had been cut by a laser, but it wasn't hot at all. Misaki flew through the opening and I followed suit, willing myself to settle on the floor and allow gravity to reclaim my body.

“I'm canceling the spells,” Misaki warned. She closed her eyes and made a sharp cutting motion across, drawing a simple glyph of dispelling in the air that glowed a fierce white. I felt my body become heavier as the ability to negate gravity disappeared. The window, too, was back just as it had been before.

“You can do that more than once, I hope,” I quipped as we took a moment to get our bearings.

“Yes. We'll be able to return here after we eliminate the target and leave the building the same way we came in. The specter is preoccupied with its invocation. If we find it quickly, we might catch it with its defenses down.”

I didn't think that was too likely. If Misaki was right and the specter was in the middle of casting an invocation, it would be vulnerable for several minutes and almost totally unaware of the world around it. The specter probably felt safe in doing so due to the fact that most humans wouldn't be able to wound it, even with its barrier inactive.

With Misaki and the Relic, I didn't fit into the category of “most humans.”

“If the thing puts up a fight, we'll get to see if these MQ rounds Star got us are actually effective.” I may have sounded dubious, but I was more accurately nervous. Learning how to use a weapon like the Relic would take time. Anything that could make the weapons I already knew how to use more effective would be a boon.

“It's not wise to rush into battle with an untested weapon,” Misaki warned.

“Star said they've been using them for a few months with promising results, so I wouldn't exactly call them 'untested.'”

Misaki shrugged. “I suppose we'll find out for sure soon enough.”

“True. Regardless, if the specter is preoccupied with its invocation and isn't actively trying to kill me, I'm just going to walk up to it and cut it in half.”

“The sensible choice.” Misaki giggled.

“Come on, let's go.” I unlocked the office door from the inside and strode out into the development floor. This particular office was laid out in such a way that the higher-ranking employees had their offices around the outer edge of the building, leaving the entire inner section as a huge, completely open room that could be configured in just about any way imaginable.

Currently the development floor of this data security firm (how much of a coincidence is that?) was laid out in a sort of open/flowing design. There were dozens of desks, but no cubicles, nothing to hide the individual programmers and software engineers away from their fellows. The desks and computers were arranged in an amorphous, almost organic sort of way rather than strict and neat rows. Creative, but all very ordinary, the sort of things you'd expect to find in a software company run by young entrepreneurs.

In the center of the development floor were two things that definitely were not like the others. A body lay on the floor. It was a middle-aged man with dark skin and a shaved head wearing the uniform of the private security firm tasked with guarding this building. The body appeared to be sleeping, but the other thing in the room told me the mind that once animated that body had long since destroyed.

The specter itself stood in near the body. It had a roughly humanoid shape, but seemed to flicker halfway in and out of the physical plane. The creature was tall, over two meters in height and wore no clothing or armor. Its skin appeared to be made up of tiny crystalline facets of a dull reddish color that pulsed with inner light.

I studied the spirit more closely. Its arms were slender and hideously elongated, long enough that they'd drag the ground if it let them relax at the sides. The arms were jointed in multiple places: at the shoulders and wrists like a human, but it had three elbow joints in each arm, ending in small hands with enormous glass blades for fingers.

Misaki's tail lashed in alarm. “A shardwight. Brittle and takes impacts badly, but very fast, prefers melee combat over offensive magic.”

“Well, you were right,” I whispered to Misaki. “The specter's totally caught up in its invocation. Can you tell what it is?”

“Not without alerting it to our presence.” Misaki's hands lit up with brilliant flame as she summoned killing magic. “Don't try to kill it with a single stroke. Without absolutely perfect accuracy, it'll have time to counter before you can land a follow-up strike on the core.”

I winced at the dubious but realistic assessment of my skill with a sword. I was getting better with practice, surely, but if Misaki was right about this specter—and she usually was, thanks to her centuries of experience—it would carve me up into tiny pieces if I was even a millimeter off.

“This is definitely going to wake it up. Let's time our attacks.”

I nodded and lifted my automatic, lining the sights up on the passive specter. Misaki's hands blazed with spell-flame as she summoned killing heat and light. Her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed together in a thin, determined line.

“Now,” Misaki hissed.

I pulled the trigger several times in rapid succession, loosing four shots in the span of half as many seconds. At a range of less than four meters it was hard to miss such a big target. The MQ rounds, provided by Star and courtesy of the internal weapons development team within AEGIS, were doped with minute traces of malformed quintessence. The rounds would induce a sort of magical short circuit into whatever target they struck, fouling up the precise control of mana and miasma necessary for a specter to cast spells and maintain its existence on the physical plane.

Unlike normal bullets, they could damage a specter's physical form and could even destroy it, though only temporarily, by interrupting the flow of mana that kept it anchored to this reality. Taking them out permanently would require the Relic.

Misaki's fire struck the target shortly after my bullets. The crystal monster roared in agony, an awful metallic shriek that sounded very much like nails on a chalkboard. My throat itched and a jagged flash of pain ran down my spine, but I ignored it.

The specter reacted to the attacks almost immediately, but it was definitely hurt. Misaki's fire clung to the creature, setting it ablaze. Her spell-flame burned anything, whether it could burn naturally or not. I loosed two more shots, but the shardwight was aware now and dodged them with contemptuous ease.

I whistled aloud. “That thing is fast.”

“See what I mean?” Misaki shouted at me as she drew her arms inward and brought up a barrier of shimmering golden light between me and the specter. The charging shardwight slammed into the barrier and attempted to claw right through it, but the magical wall of force was not so easily breached.

The specter hissed in frustration and slashed at the barrier, trying to batter its way through so that it could slice me into ribbons with those crystal talons. Misaki loosed a barrage of fiery motes at the specter, but it was still very agile and adept at avoidance. Explosions of magical flame washed over desks and computer workstations, dissipating with no real effect. Misaki's control over her spell-flame was perfect. This was a very good thing because otherwise everything on this floor, including myself, would be on fire.

I knew what she was trying to do. The shardwight's arms and talons were its primary weapons and Misaki was doing her best to literally disarm the creature, but the thing was so fucking fast that she couldn't land a solid hit. Unlike a mortal opponent, the shardwight would never tire, never slow down, so long as it could draw upon astral energy.

A distraction was necessary. I sighed. Misaki was going to get mad at me for this, but I didn't see too many other ways to resolve the stalemate. It wouldn't take long before the rest of the building's security guards noticed something was amiss.

I stepped beyond the barrier Misaki granted me and manifested the Relic in my left hand, keeping my automatic in my right. I had six shots left. I fired all of them in rapid succession.

Left with the choice between dodging Misaki's exploding motes or my quintessence-laced bullets, the creature did exactly what I'd hoped it would do. It gave up its greatest advantage, high-speed dodging, and instead raised a miasmic barrier.

A vortex of roiling black fog sprang up around the creature, absorbing Misaki's spell-flame easily enough. The miasma swirled around violently, tinted a faint orange-red from the rapidly-fading magical heat.

Unfortunately for the specter, however, my bullets had a different effect.

The miasmic vortex warped and distorted as the MQ bullets struck it and fragmented, the metallic slugs ripped apart to expose the malformed quintessence held within. The pure physical crystallization of mana had been intentionally forced to form chaotic clusters that redirected the flow of astral energy and bent it back in upon itself.

The shardwight reeled and let out an ear-piercing shriek, clearly in pain—nice to know it could feel pain—and released the miasmic vortex before the MQ rounds could cause the black barrier to collapse in upon itself. It had deftly escaped being killed by its own magic, but the process of dismissing the miasmic vortex left it unable to dodge for a full two seconds.

More than enough time.

A half-dozen exploding motes caught it on the left shoulder and detonated, blasting crystalline shards across the development floor. The arm shattered and huge chunks of it fell to the ground, leaking plumes of miasma from the broken edges.

The shardwight's terrible voice rose up in pain and rage, falling back into a defensive stance. I dropped my empty pistol and took the Relic in a two-handed grip, leading with my right hand as I stepped into a vertical uppercut cleave that took the creature's left arm off just above the uppermost elbow.

As the blade sliced up I swung around and retracted it as quickly as I could, only becoming slightly over-balanced as I collapsed into a guard position. I was starting to get the hang of using this thing. Not enough to ever want to go head-to-head with another swordsman, but enough to take pieces off specters at least.

“Karin, now!” Misaki shouted. The spell-flame shrouding her hands vanished as if it had never been and she began to trace an intricate runic pattern in the air with two fingers on each hand. Her tail curled up toward her back and her ears flattened in anger as she completed the spell of restriction.

Before the shardwight could even strain against the invisible bonds holding it, I whipped the sword around, spun a half-circle and slashed across the specter's center of mass with all of my strength. The burning edge of the Relic sheared through the shardwight's crystalline form as if it were made of soft cheese.

With a horrific shriek, the shardwight died. Its crystal body began to fade and become pale and opaque before collapsing into a pile of fine ash. The bisected core, however, remained suspended in mid-air, held fast by Misaki's restriction spell.

I smiled. This specter was intelligent enough to possess a security guard and pose as that guard for several days while it worked to complete its task. Powerful and intelligent specters meant a large core. The two halves of the pallid sphere would have been the size of a grapefruit when whole.

“How much do you think?” I wondered.

Misaki stared at the specter's core. “Half a kilogram, perhaps more.”

“Well then, let's get it,” I said. I willed the Relic away and went about cleaning up the scene while Misaki fell into an invocation of her own. The spell used to refine the dead core of a specter was a difficult casting and it took time to complete. This was the point where I usually went around and removed as much evidence of our passing as I could.

I'd fired a whole magazine, so I went looking for the spent brass. Since all twelve shots had been fired in roughly the same location, it wasn't too hard for me to clean up after myself. Misaki's spell-flame didn't leave traces behind, so there wasn't much worry on that front.

I pocketed the spent brass and pulled a cigarette out of my pocket and lit it. Misaki gave me a disapproving look.

“I'm not going to leave the butt here,” I said, a touch defensively.

“Very well. I've completed the conversion process.” Misaki let out a sigh of relief as she released the invocation. The glittering silver-white dust remained suspended by her restriction spell, but I had no trouble at all collecting every scrap of the valuable substance and storing it inside a self-sealing containment cylinder.

“The core had remnants of the flow of the shardwight's miasma,” Misaki noted as we walked back toward the same office we used to gain entry. “While I was converting the core fragments into quintessence, I studied the flow lines.”

I glanced at her blankly as I fiddled with the can, trying to get the thing to lock and seal properly. “What does that mean?”

“It means I know what the specter was doing.”

“And?”

“It was communicating, just as Star predicted. The invocation was a type of magical sending that allowed it to transmit large amounts of data through the summoning link.”

I frowned. That made sense and was what Star thought was going on in the first place, that this was a case of industrial espionage. A tendril of smoke from my cigarette stung my eyes faintly as I twisted the lid of the cylinder, feeling it click as the seal lock finally decided to engage.

“Could you tell where it was sending to?”

Misaki nodded, her expression grim. “Japan. Kyoto.”

“Wait... you don't think this specter was summoned by the Tsukimura clan, do you?”

“If not them directly, than one of their servant houses. The magecraft used to summon this specter feels familiar,” Misaki said. “Star told us she will keep the case open if we managed to find a lead on the summoner. This is definitely enough of a lead to keep investigating.”

“Yeah,” I muttered around my smoke. I dropped the empty mag from my automatic and replaced it with a fresh one, chambering a round and putting the weapon on safe. I stuffed it and the empty magazine back in the shoulder holster under my jacket.

“You know Star's probably going to send us to Japan,” I pointed out.

Misaki glanced at me, her eyes wide. “That prospect upsets you?”

“No, not really. I mean, I haven't been there in a while. I didn't want to go back on business, though. Would have rather gone to visit, enjoy the sights, pretend to be a tourist for a while. Visit my mother.”

“I'm sure we can make time for that,” she insisted. I wasn't entirely convinced, nor was I entirely sure I was ready to face Mama while Misaki was with me.

“Maybe. Let's get out of here. We'll talk about this later.”

transitions

I was right, of course.

We'd been on the plane for twelve hours and already I was starting to go a little stir-crazy. Okay, maybe a lot stir-crazy. Never been a fan of air travel, especially not when traveling overseas. Being stuck in a tiny and inescapable metal box hurtling through the sky for almost a day was not my idea of fun.

Fortunately for the both of us, Star and AEGIS came through in a big way. Not only did she get us first-class tickets on a nice airliner—which meant I actually had room to stretch my legs a bit—but she'd managed to legitimately get Misaki put into the systems.

Well. Maybe “legitimate” was too strong a word—the papers were bullshit, of course, but they were real documents. Her new birth certificate stated she'd been born in 2021 in the States, making her twenty-two and an American citizen, which was reasonably believable based on her appearance. Obviously telling the truth—that she was a six-hundred-year-old artificial spirit created by ancient Japanese mystics—would not work.

Misaki sat next to me, clearly enjoying both the comfortable chair and the endless stream of refreshments that came part and parcel with being in first-class. Especially the booze. She was working on her third Mimosa of the morning. I'd been dawdling over a cup of coffee with a little Irish crème thrown in for fun.

“I'm glad one of us is enjoying this trip,” I grumbled.

She gave me her patented curious look, her head tilting to one side. It really never stopped being incredibly adorable. “You don't like it? But the food is really good and the drinks are even better.”

“I don't like being stuck in a small space with no way out, I don't like having no proper bed I can lay down in and I definitely don't like not being able to smoke.” I sighed and dug around in my carry-on, pulling out a bag of the sour candy I favored. I'd been hitting the candy pretty hard since I couldn't smoke on the plane. My dentist wasn't going to be pleased with me.

“It will only be five more hours before we land,” Misaki pointed out.

“I know.” I sighed and sipped at my spiked coffee some more. The alcohol spread warmth throughout my midsection, but I was still in a pretty crappy mood. Misaki had her ears and tail hidden beneath the invisibility charm. I really hated the fact that she had to hide them.

Yeah, I know, it was for operational security, don't attract attention, blah, blah. But on the other hand, it didn't sit well with me that she had to hide who she really was. I'd finally come to admit that I'd been attracted to her since the moment we met. All of her, not just the parts that were most convenient for me, either.

I ate several pieces of sour candy in a row, feeling more upset by the minute. I was so out of sorts that I felt like crying. I wanted to hold Misaki, to hug her, kiss her, nestle up against her and feel her fluffy tail wrap around my waist. The desire to maintain some degree of public decorum meant that sort of thing wouldn't be happening. We weren't the only passengers on this flight.

“Aren't you anxious to visit your mother?”

I glanced over at Misaki and nodded. “Yeah, I am. I haven't seen her in a while. It'll be nice to spend time at the Takeda house again. Maybe we'll even have time to relax a bit before the job.”

Misaki gave me a dubious look.

“Mm, probably not,” I conceded. “But it'll still be nice to visit Mama. I'm sure she'll enjoy meeting you, too.” Though I really wish you didn't have to hide your true appearance from her, I added silently. I was growing more distraught thinking about it, so I decided to stop thinking about it. It didn't work so well.

Misaki seemed pleased at the prospect. “I'm looking forward to it!”

“I'm not really sure what she'll think about, um, us. She might disapprove or something.” Shit, just talking about it at all made me feel awkward. Things were still very new and raw for the both of us, but I thought we had it where it mattered.

“Would she not be happy for her daughter?”

“Um, well, Mama really wants grandchildren, and I'm the only child left capable of that sort of thing,” I replied, a bit more sourly than I'd intended. “It's not like she mistreated me or was ashamed of me for being a lesbian, but she's always sort of disapproved.”

Misaki frowned. “But your family line would not be continued if you married. Any husband of yours would sire children of his own line. In such a situation, your mother should have no reason to care.”

“It's not about perpetuating a noble bloodline, because my house isn't anywhere close to royalty.” I put the candy away and tried pulling air through an unlit cigarette. Nearby passengers gave me dirty looks, but nobody bothered to complain since I didn't actually light it. “My mother's family is Japanese. My father's is English and Korean. They lived and met in the States and had three children.”

Misaki's head tilted inquisitively. “You have two siblings?”

“Only one now,” I corrected. “I... well, let's just say that tragedy and my family are really familiar with each other.”

“What do you mean?”

I sighed heavily and placed my hand on Misaki's. It felt warm and soft and slightly tingly, a physical reminder of the astral energy seething beneath the surface. She smiled and a faint pink blush touched her cheeks.

“If it's too painful to talk about, I understand,” she murmured, her tone apologetic.

“No, it's not... really. It all happened a long time ago. I was the middle child. My older brother, William, and my father—they're both dead. They died in an auto accident when I was fourteen.”

“I'm sorry for your loss,” Misaki murmured, gazing at me sympathetically.

“Thank you. It happened a long time ago, but it still hurts.”

“What about your youngest sibling?”

“Well... this is a little more complicated.” I drained my now-cold Irish coffee and tried to think of a tactful way to frame the story before the words started tumbling forth. I wasn't certain I'd be able to explain it to her in a way she'd understand, but my mind was already heading down the path. Even if I wanted to stop, I couldn't have.

“When my sister was born, we all thought she was actually my brother,” I began, considering my words carefully. “I won't mention the name that was given to her at birth, other than yeah, it followed the same silly naming convention: my elder brother's name is English, mine is Japanese and my youngest sibling's is Korean.”

“That doesn't sound silly to me,” Misaki objected. “Your parents wished to honor their ancestors and their culture.”

I smiled. “Maybe you're right. Anyway, my little sister, So-yi, well, her status with the family has always been questionable, to say the least. Most of the extended family doesn't accept her at all and it took years for my mother to finally come around. I was already moved out of the house when Mama finally accepted her third child was really her second daughter, not her second son.”

“Your sister was once a man?” Misaki queried. She looked a little confused, but did not seem to be bothered by the concept of a person disagreeing with the sex they were assigned at birth.

“That's what we all thought,” I explained, “but it turned out to not be true. So-yi and I were thick as thieves from the moment she was old enough to talk. She's three years younger than me. I was the first person she confided in, the first person she told that she was actually a girl. We were both pretty young at the time. I was nine, she was six. I convinced her that we should go tell Mama, but that turned out to be a bad idea.”

Misaki frowned. “Your parents did not take this well?”

“No, not really.” I placed my hand on my forehead and sighed. “My father was furious when he found out and Will was Daddy's best boy, so he basically went right along with it. My mother was not actively hostile, but she didn't really do anything to stop the men of the house from treating So-yi badly.”

“I don't understand.” Misaki's brow furrowed in genuine confusion. “Why would such a thing cause issue within the family? No one can know the depths of their own soul better than themselves. Why would your mother and father refuse to believe their child on such an important matter?”

I smiled and brushed her cheek lightly. “I didn't expect you to accept this quite so, um, completely. But thanks. It makes it a lot easier to talk about.”

I took a breath and ate a piece of candy. It'd been a long time since I last recounted this story to someone else and I wasn't at all surprised by how painful it still was. I felt my eyes start to sting as I thought of what the whole situation did to the family, but mostly how it affected my little sister.

“I was So-yi's knight in shining armor,” I went on, my eyes slowly losing focus as I stared back into the past. “When Will would push her around for doing something he considered unmanly, I'd yell at him, stand between them, shielding her. When my father would make some cutting remark about how much of a 'sissy' So-yi was, I wouldn't hesitate to risk punishment to stick up for her. I'd let her dress up in my clothes, help her with her hair and makeup, at least until Dad found out I was doing it and threatened to send So-yi away to boarding school if she didn't stop 'shaming the family' or some shit like that.”

“Your parents should have trusted their child. The disharmony of the family was their doing, not your sister's.” Misaki scooted closer to me, leaning against me. I was sure she could tell just how much recounting the tale affected me.

“Tell me about it. Dad and Will never accepted her, never forgave her for not being the son and brother they demanded her to be. I have no idea if they ever would have, because they died before that could even happen. At the funeral, So-yi couldn't stop crying. She was inconsolable because, in her own words, 'Daddy and Will died hating me, so they'll hate me forever in the afterlife.'”

The stinging in my eyes was getting worse. My vision was starting to blur and I knew it wouldn't be long before the tears would start coming. There wouldn't be anything I could do to stop them; I'd just have to cry it out.

“After they died, Mama didn't really pay much attention to So-yi, so I ended up sort of raising her. I guess the little war over my sister's gender identity was something that reminded her far too much of her dead husband and son. Mama focused all her energy on me, so I decided it was only right that I take care of So-yi.”

The tears started coming. Misaki clung to me more tightly, her expression filled with sympathy. I took a moment to collect myself, wiping my eyes with the napkin that the flight attendant gave me with my coffee.

“Sorry. It's just... it's hard. Anyway, So-yi and I grew even closer. When I graduated high school and left home, I was really worried for her. I mean, Mama was coming to grips with the loss, but she wasn't really willing to accept So-yi. She wouldn't use feminine pronouns, would use the name my sister was given at birth.

“We stayed in touch almost obsessively during that time. I talked to So-yi almost every night on the phone. Sometimes we'd talk for hours. One day during my second year, So-yi called me in the middle of the day, while I was in class. She always called me around the same time, usually in the late evening, so this was weird and I was scared, worried something terrible happened.”

Misaki remained silent, listening patiently. I could feel her tail curling around my thigh, even if I couldn't see it. I felt a stab of anger that emerged from the past, from So-yi's pain, and snaked around through Misaki before it struck my heart. I hated that she had to hide, just like I hated when So-yi had to hide.

“It turned out not to be terrible. When I answered, So-yi didn't even give me time to speak. She was ecstatic, deliriously happy. I had no idea what the fuck was going on and said so, but she just kept speaking over me, telling me over and over again: 'Karin, Karin, guess what? Mama called me So-yi today!' It was like she was five years old again and it was Christmas morning. And I just about had a heart attack when I heard that.”

“Your mother learned to accept her child for who she was,” Misaki murmured. “Perhaps she realized that the love of the family is what is most important.”

“I think it was more that she finally got over Dad and Will's deaths and was able to move on with her life.” I wiped my eyes again and took a deep breath. “The next time So-yi and I talked, I really couldn't believe it. Not only did Mama accept her, but she was actively helping her youngest daughter.”

Misaki's eyes were wide as she gazed at me, totally enthralled by the tale of the Ashley family drama. I squeezed her hand affectionately. We suspended the conversation for a brief moment when the flight attendant returned, asking if we wanted something else to drink. I ordered a cola and Misaki requested a glass of water.

After the attendant returned with the drinks and departed, I continued the tale. “Mama really went all-out. She pushed through the courts and paperwork to get So-yi's name and gender marker legally changed on all her documents. Took her to a doctor and made sure she was able to get prescriptions for hormones and androgen blockers, paid for her to get hair removal treatments, took her shopping and bought her a whole new wardrobe.”

“Do you believe your mother was trying to make amends for how So-yi was treated during her younger years?”

“I think so, yeah. It was really amazing when you considered just how little money Mama had without my dad's salary. A lot of money was going to keep me in college, though I was working part-time to try and help reduce the size of the checks she sent me. Mama really did want So-yi and I to have the best lives we could.

“After So-yi was old enough to go off to college herself, Mama was left at home by herself and decided to move back to Osaka. My grandparents are getting up there in years and Mama wanted to go make sure they were taken care of. So-yi went off to university and studied music and audio/video production. After college, she had several surgeries done so her body would match more closely with who she was.”

“Do you remain in contact with your younger sister?” Misaki inquired.

“We're still very close, yeah. We talk on the phone at least twice a week to talk about how things are going with her. I still worry about her a lot, but she's doing okay. She has a good job with a media production company, creating music for all sorts of projects. She plays the violin. She's married to a woman named Nicole. Her life's way more on track than my own and yet I still worry about my little sister.”

Misaki leaned her head against my shoulder. I smiled and ruffled her hair a bit, scratching near where I knew the base of her ears to be. Her smile took on a dreamy quality and she let out a soft vocalization of pleasure.

“Thank you for sharing this story with me.”

I shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, even though it really was. “I already trust you with my life. I may as well trust you with the contents of it, right?”

She nodded and closed her eyes. “Still, it is a tremendous gesture of trust. I consider myself fortunate to be bound to you.”

“It's bound to me,” I reminded her, my tone low so that we would not be easily overheard by the other passengers. “You aren't. The Relic isn't you any more than my heart or my lungs or my bones are me. They're just part of the container that holds me, a machine made of meat that my mind controls.”

“But... if the container is destroyed, what it contains will be lost.”

“That's not relevant to the conversation.” I placed a piece of the sour strawberry candy against Misaki's lips. She giggled and accepted it, chewing slowly. Her expression went from curious to delighted as she swallowed the little sweet treat.

“More?”

I had an evil thought and tried not to let an impish grin spread across my face. I took another of the candies out of the bag and placed it between my lips and turned to face Misaki.

“What are you—oh. Oh.” She giggled and blushed faintly. Hesitantly she leaned closer, trying to grasp the piece of candy without touching her lips to mine, but I was having none of that. I leaned forward as well, pushing the candy into her mouth at the same time as our lips met.

I let my eyes close and I felt Misaki's hand on my shoulder, gentle and strong and supportive all at once. My mind was lost within a warm, fluffy haze as the kiss went on for what felt like several minutes, though I was sure it was nowhere near that long. Misaki's lips had the power to slow time, it seemed.

After a time—too short a time!—Misaki drew back, breaking the kiss, wearing that trademarked dangerous little smile of hers. I was feeling only a little self-conscious about sharing such an intimate moment while surrounded by strangers. I was surprised at how little I cared. I wondered if that meant something.

Misaki giggled. “That was yummy.”

“The candy or the kiss?”

“Both!”

confession

The airport wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. We managed to get our luggage from the carousel without much incident. The rental car agency was nearby and the credit cards Star provided had more than enough purchasing power to take care of everything without having to dip into my own bank account. Even if I had, I probably wouldn't have minded, since the signing bonus and case bounties at this point had my savings swelling to nearly a hundred thousand dollars.

Yeah, okay, things were going well. I would most definitely be buying a new car first thing once we were back in the States. Might even consider moving to a nicer apartment, all things considered. And my personal life... well, things were going well on that front, too. I turned off to the right and changed lanes as we headed for the freeway.

“Does your mother know we're coming to see her?” Misaki asked.

“Yeah, I sent her a message earlier. I told her I was in Japan for work and that I'd have some time to come visit her. She seemed very pleased.”

Misaki gave me a penetrating stare. “Did you tell her about me?”

“I didn't, no. I think it's better to tell that sort of thing in person, don't you?”

“What 'sort of thing' do you mean?”

“That we're, um, dating,” I murmured, feeling my cheeks heat up. Misaki's expression slid from pointed to dubious, but she didn't say anything. I wasn't sure if she was annoyed that I was tiptoeing around defining our relationship more strongly or that I didn't tell my mother we were, well, involved.

“I really don't think it'll be a problem, though,” I continued, trying not to sound like I was babbling. “Mama doesn't always agree with everything I do, but she won't shun me for my choices. Might give me an earful about some of them, but you know, she's a mom. They tend to do that sort of thing.”

Shit. Too late. I was already babbling. In truth I was reluctant to actually voice the way I felt about Misaki aloud and especially to her directly. I had to be reading too much into my feelings because it just hadn't been enough time. It was less than a month ago that we met and I was extremely wary of how my lonely heart might try and trick me.

But... almost a month had passed, and my feelings weren't diminishing or fading into familiarity. If anything, they were growing more intense. Sharing the story of my past and my sister wasn't something I did lightly, even if I'd given Misaki a somewhat abbreviated version.

I pulled a cigarette out of my pocket and lit it, not caring that the smell would probably result in losing the deposit. I was nervous. I was more than a little afraid what my mother would think about Misaki, even without the whole immortal spirit thing.

“You're nervous about the visit,” Misaki observed.

Fuck. She certainly had a knack for seeing right through me.

“Yeah. I am.” I rolled the window down a little and blew the smoke out of the car as best I could. There wasn't much else I could say, but I kept talking anyway, if for nothing else but to fill the awkward silence.

“Mama moved back to Japan to take care of my grandparents, but... they're getting way up there in years. My grandmother is in her eighties and her husband is only a few years away from his one hundredth birthday. They really won't be around much longer, and Mama wanted to stay with them for their remaining time, but the care they need just isn't possible in their home. They've been at an elder care facility for the past year.”

Misaki nodded. “Will you visit them as well while you're here?”

“No, I doubt I'll do that,” I replied as I signaled to change lanes. I really hated driving in Japan, having learned to drive on the right side of the road in America. The shift didn't feel natural, and the usual calming effect driving had on me was actually doing the opposite now that I had to actively think about controlling the vehicle.

Misaki's dubious look returned. “Why would you not visit them?”

“They aren't really... there... anymore,” I replied, a little evasively. “Sorry. It's just I never really knew them very well and there really isn't all that much left of them. When I heard they went into the care facility I was worried about Mama, but she seems to have made peace with it long ago.”

“Death is a natural part of life.” Misaki turned and gazed out the window. “At least it is for humans.”

I glanced at her and felt a sharp pang of sympathy. “I can't imagine it. Six centuries of life must weigh heavily on you.”

“No, it's not that at all. I'm not human, nor am I mortal, and thus my mind doesn't feel the weight of years. By the measure of most spirits, I'm barely more than a child. There are others, ancient ones who have existed for tens of thousands of years. Spirits who personally watched as humans progressed from primitive tribes of hunter-gatherers into the great and powerful civilizations of the modern day.”

“Did they merely observe?” I couldn't even comprehend an intelligence that had existed for tens of thousands of years. It just seemed too incredible to wrap my mind around.

“Most did. Some chose to meddle. Specters can't help themselves, after all. Spirits aren't social beings. There have never been anything comparable to human civilizations in the spirit world.”

“How do they, um, reproduce?”

“I don't know.” Misaki frowned. I could tell that her ears were likely drooping beneath the obfuscating invisibility charm. “I was artificially created from quintessence and a great and powerful collaborative invocation of magecraft, brought into this world for one purpose alone: to kill other spirits.”

“Hearing you say it like that makes me glad humans don't really exist for any specific purpose.” I felt a shiver run up my spine as I thought of how it must feel to know with every fiber of your being that you were given life specifically for the task of ending life.

Misaki didn't respond to that.

The rest of the trip was completed in silence. I was alone with my thoughts and this was proving to not be an especially good thing. I could kick my own ass for my cowardice. I wanted to tell her. With all of my being, I wanted to pull the car over, stop on the side of the road, give her the biggest fucking hug I could and tell her that she had a purpose other than killing, a reason to live that wasn't entirely defined by battling specters.

I didn't do it, though. I couldn't. I was afraid, unsure. It was too soon. Too fast. We barely knew each other. It couldn't be what I thought it was.

Could it?

No. Calm down, Karin. Take it slow. Don't rush into anything—well, except for the AEGIS job, rushing into that was a singularly excellent idea; just look at that account balance! But this wasn't even on remotely the same level.

I turned onto the street where the Takeda household was located. The house was located in a fairly upscale part of Osaka proper on a good-sized lot. There was one car in the driveway that could only accommodate one car, so I parked the rental car at the curb and killed the motor.

“Well, we're here. Come on, let's go visit my Mama.”

I stepped out of the car and Misaki followed suit, keeping silent for the interim. I was sure that wouldn't last after we made the introductions. Honestly I would have preferred if she kept up a cheerful chatter, but I think she was feeling a little nervous, too. Partly because we were now much closer to the stronghold of the people who wanted to kill me and force Misaki back into their service and partly because I was unsure whether or not my mother would accept her, or rather, us.

We left the luggage in the car. With the sort of timeline we had, this visit wasn't going to last more than a day. We'd probably stay the night—Mama would absolutely insist, even if she was upset with me—but the longer we stayed in the area without actively working to clear the case, the more likely we were to lose the element of surprise.

I'd soon find out just how powerful the Tsukimura clan was.

I pressed the doorbell. A few moments later, the door opened and my mother stood in the doorway. She had been shorter than me since I was a teenager and she'd never been what one would call particularly slim. That hadn't really changed much in the intervening years, though she seemed to have evened out a bit. From her sporty attire it looked like she'd been getting some exercise when I sent her the message.

“Hi, Mama,” I blurted.

“Karin! Oh, it's so good to see you, sweetie! It's been almost three years since the last time you visited! Really, you shouldn't make your mother so sad. I'm the only one you've got, you know.”

I blushed and offered a sheepish smile. “I'm sorry, Mama, but my old job really didn't pay enough for me to be just popping over every year.”

“Oh, don't make excuses. You know I'd have bought your tickets if you asked. Old job? You don't work for that government agency anymore? And, oh my, who is this with you? I can tell by the look on your face that you've got lots of things to tell your Mama, so come on inside and we'll have some tea.”

My mother disappeared into the house without another word. I glanced at Misaki and shrugged helplessly.

“I told you she'd be like this. Come on, let's go before she comes back and drags us both inside by our collars.”

Misaki giggled at the comment and followed me inside. The threshold and entryway of the Takeda family home was paneled in dark oiled wood. The bright late-afternoon sun had my eyes burning a bit, so it was a little refreshing to be plunged into dimness.

We slipped our shoes off and we walked with stockinged feet into the parlor where my mother was already waiting with the tea and a small tray of what smelled like almond and vanilla tea cakes. I was more interested and relieved to see she'd also set out an ashtray.

“Sit down, sit down,” my mother urged, waving to the couches. Misaki and I both sat on the couch; I noticed that Misaki settled a little oddly, making room for her tail in such a way that it wasn't too obvious to anyone who didn't know it was there.

“Well, okay, right. Introductions,” I began, trying not to sound as nervous as I felt. I wondered how old I'd have to get before I stopped viewing my mother as an eternal authority figure. Probably never.

“Mama, this is Misaki. Misaki, this is my mother, Yoshiko.”

Misaki stood and offered a perfectly-executed courtly bow that probably hadn't been commonly seen in hundreds of years. My mother seemed delighted by the gesture, though, so I guess it was okay.

“It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Ashley.”

“Likewise, though don't worry yourself with that 'Mrs. Ashley' stuff. Feel free to just call me Yoshiko. Any friend of my daughter's is allowed certain privileges.”

I didn't miss the meaningful look Misaki shot me. She was waiting for me to clarify our relationship, something I was still feeling more than a little nervous about. The prospect of my mother seeing grandchildren was effectively zero at this point, with So-yi being what she was and my unwillingness to settle down. Even if I chose to pursue artificial insemination, I had no interest.

Besides, considering what I did for a living now...

“Well, Mama, um... I should clarify that Misaki isn't just a friend.” My voice cracked a little, sounding awkward and not a little frightened. My mother's eyes narrowed just a hair, almost imperceptibly. I was certain Misaki didn't notice.

“We're, um, dating,” I managed after a short and uncomfortable silence.

“I see.” My mother's tone was neutral. I felt as if I was sitting on a bed of impossibly-sharp needles. My body was totally frozen; I didn't even dare move a millimeter as I waited for my mother's response.

The silence seemed to stretch into infinity. Misaki finally broke it, causing my heart to leap into my throat momentarily.

“Karin is very important to me,” Misaki told my mother, her voice solemn and filled with sincerity. It was true on more levels than my mother could possibly know. “We haven't known each other for very long, but still I care very much for her.”

It took what felt like ages, but my mother's inscrutable expression and hard-eyed stare started to relax. Slowly, ever so slowly, I watched as her lips curled into a pleased smile, though I could detect some sadness lurking behind it. I couldn't tell if it was the sadness of a woman who just watched the last hope she had of becoming a grandmother fade away or if it was something else entirely.

“Yeah, that's basically it,” I mumbled, avoiding my mother's eyes.

“Karin.”

“W-what?”

“Look at me when I'm talking to you, young lady.”

She was using that tone of voice. The dreaded Mom Voice. I really, really hated it when she used that voice. I nearly jumped out of my skin and met my mother's eyes. Instantly I could see she wasn't angry at all. No, it was worse than that. I could see that she knew exactly why I'd been so evasive.

“Why didn't you tell me you met someone?”

I blinked, desperately wishing I could melt away into the carpet. She knew why, but she wanted me to say it out loud anyway. “I was afraid what you might think, Mama. I know you were never really... pleased... that I don't have any interest in men.”

My mother let out a long, slow sigh. “Karin, you're my daughter and I love you more than anything. That will never change.”

“I know, Mama.” I sounded miserable, which made sense, because I felt miserable.

“Then stop being foolish and stand behind your choices,” she snapped. Then she turned to Misaki, her Mom Voice fading away, her sharp-eyed expression softening. “I'm sorry, dear, that you were thrust into such an uncomfortable scene. Perhaps if my daughter wasn't so prone to acting like an idiot, then we'd be enjoying some tea and sweets right now instead of feeling so terribly out of sorts.”

I pulled a cigarette out of my jacket and lit it. My mother didn't react, even though in the past she'd given me endless amounts of grief for smoking. Of course, she grew up in a time when cigarettes could actually kill you, so I understood, but I guess she decided I'd been beat up on enough for being stupid, so she let it slide.

“I'm sorry, Mama,” I mumbled.

“You should be,” she retorted. “I want you to be happy, sweetie. Your happiness is much, much more important to me than becoming a grandmother—and that'll probably happen anyway.”

I gawked at my mother. “W-what?”

“So-yi didn't tell you?” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Maybe I shouldn't, then.”

“I talked to her just a few days ago. She didn't say anything that could possibly be—no, that's not possible. So-yi is sterile and doesn't even have a uterus. How could that even be possible?”

My mother glanced at Misaki, unsure as to whether she should actually get into this family drama with an outsider—even an outsider her daughter was romantically involved with—present and listening.

“I already told Misaki about So-yi's history.”

Mama's eyes widened in surprise and something in her expression shifted. It was almost undetectable, but I could have sworn her small teasing smile became something far more genuine. I was probably imagining things.

“Oh. Well, then. I spoke to her last month about this. Apparently, before So-yi's final surgery, she contacted a fertility clinic and had something, well, preserved for future use when she decided to settle down. I'm surprised she never mentioned this to you. The two of you were always inseparable growing up.”

“I can believe it,” I muttered. And it really wasn't as much a surprise as my mother was making it out to be. So-yi probably never told me about it, probably never told anyone about it, because we all would have come to the wrong conclusions about her decision.

When I was younger, I would have objected to it fiercely, doing my best to convince my little sister that she had no obligation to the family to procreate, no obligation to create a living reminder of her dysphoria.

But I was older and wiser now, and I realized some years ago that there was a huge difference between defending my sister's choices and trying to make those choices for her. I understood that So-yi wasn't sure about what she wanted at that point in her life and chose to do everything she could to keep all her options open. It made sense to me, now, after my anger had time to cool off.

“So-yi and her partner will be starting the process with the fertility doctors soon,” my mother continued. “From what she's told me, there's a very good chance that Nicole will be able to get pregnant with the material available.”

I pulled on my cigarette, letting puffs of smoke drift out from between my lips, but I didn't say anything. I didn't feel betrayed or even really upset. If anything, I actually felt a little childish. My little sister was all grown up and soon, if everything were to go according to plan, would be a mother herself.

Misaki placed her hand on mine and squeezed it reassuringly.

“I feel like everyone else is moving right along through life, but I'm standing still. I just don't seem to have any clear goals, or even a clear destination. I just... live, day in and day out, doing my job and getting paid.” This really hadn't even changed since I took the AEGIS job. My goals were universally short-term and material in nature.

“Karin, you're not even thirty yet,” my mother admonished. “You can't start getting fatalistic about the direction your life is headed until you're at least sixty and nothing's changed. Besides, you don't even like children, so what's the issue?”

“Contrary to popular belief, Mama, I am not a grumpy child-hater,” I grumbled, though I wasn't sure how accurate that statement really was. My mother was the master of the cheap shot, I swear. “I'm just... I don't fucking know.”

“You have Misaki, don't you? Isn't it enough that you met someone special?”

I glanced at Misaki and noticed she was watching me very, very closely. This visit was not going according to plan. I was hoping just to have a nice, noncommittal visit with my Mama and then Misaki and I would be on our way, but oh no. Of course it couldn't ever be anything so simple and ordinary.

“We just started dating like a month ago—”

My mother gave me a hard look. “So what?”

“So what... what?”

“So what if you just started?” She looked at Misaki, peering deeply into her eyes for a few long seconds, before settling her sharp gaze on me. “Karin, do you know how long your father courted me before he proposed to me?”

“Two months,” I mumbled.

“So what's your excuse?”

This definitely wasn't how I wanted this visit to go.

“Mama—”

“I'm not blind, sweetie, even if you seem to be both blind and dense,” my mother cut me off, once again proving that it was totally possible to be both endearing and insulting toward one's offspring simultaneously. “You can't expect me to sit here and watch you be so indecisive, especially after you already opened your heart to Misaki. You might fool yourself, but you can't hide from me.”

Shit, I might as well be made out of glass with how easily she saw through me. Mama was right, and I had very neatly talked myself into a corner. For the most ephemeral sliver of a moment I regretted revealing that I told Misaki about the past, but it passed quickly. It would have come out regardless.

“What exactly is it that you want from me?” I was starting to get more than a little angry. I mean, seriously. My mother was really beating up on me in front of Misaki, which had my cheeks stained red and sweat starting to bead around my forehead. I stubbed out my cigarette and lit another.

My mother's response was exactly what I was afraid it'd be.

“For you to be honest with yourself, Karin dear.” And with a certain other person currently present in the room, she didn't say, but she didn't have to. I wasn't so dense I couldn't catch the unspoken implication.

I was trapped. I had no way out. There was nothing I could do but face what I didn't want to admit, what I was afraid to say because I was terrible at making real decisions in my own life. It was... easier... to just float without a destination. Life wasn't so scary when you had no goals and expectations, but it was also empty.

Misaki looked at me expectantly, hope written all over her face. I was an idiot, and she was smart, smarter than anyone else I'd ever been involved with, and beautiful, and sweet, and had a good heart.

It didn't matter that she was six hundred years old, an immortal spirit, an artificial weapon created to destroy specters. None of that mattered to me at all.

“M-Misaki, I... I...”

She squeezed my hand again.

“I love you.”

midnight

It was several hours later that I finally managed to get a single moment to myself. As I had predicted, my mother insisted that Misaki and I stay the night. Unsurprisingly, she immediately drafted me into helping prepare the guest room and help cook dinner for the three of us. When Misaki offered to help, Mama would have none of that and practically doted on her—all while barking orders at me, of course.

The topics of conversation intentionally veered away from the extremely weighty matters that had been discussed earlier in the day. A lot of meaningless small talk was made and even more food and alcohol was consumed, with my mother easily out-drinking everyone else at the table. Misaki spent a great deal of time playing with my mother's little Shiba Inu, Kaede. I wondered if the dog could detect Misaki's fox-like traits.

My phone told me it was almost midnight. My mother was kind of a night owl, a trait I'd obviously inherited from her, and I had a feeling she wasn't asleep yet, but likely locked herself in her bedroom to play video games.

Yeah, my fifty-seven year old mother played video games, and not just occasionally, either. I caught a peek inside her bedroom and she had a flat panel display set up with all of the current major game consoles and a bookshelf filled with row after row of game disc boxes, mostly role-playing games and romance visual novels. I suppose it made sense. She didn't have much else to do with her time and she'd have even less once she retired. Everyone needed a hobby, right?

I walked out onto the porch behind the house, overlooking the yard where Kaede was currently walking around looking for a good place to relieve herself. Reaching into the pocket of my borrowed yukata, I pulled out a cigarette. It was about twenty minutes since I got out of the bath, feeling considerably fresher and clear than I did before. If there was one thing I loved about visiting the Takeda family home, it was the impressive bath that was deep enough to come up to my shoulders. I never understood why Western baths were so shallow.

“Aren't you sleepy yet?”

I lit the cigarette and turned my head to the left. Misaki stood next to me on the porch. I could tell from her slightly-damp hair and the brown yukata she wore that she'd just finished with her bath. Her ears and tail were visible. I suspected she risked releasing the illusion for my benefit.

“A little.”

Misaki turned toward me. “Can we talk?”

“Of course. What's on your mind?”

I sat down on the bench. Misaki sat down next to me. The silence stretched out for several long and uncomfortable seconds before I realized that her tail had stopped its usual swaying and was lying perfectly still on the bench.

“You said you loved me,” she murmured, her voice low and even. “Did you really mean that? Or was it simply because your mother was pressuring you to say something?”

I blanched. “W-what?”

“Please, Karin, I need to know the truth. I promise you, I won't be upset if you made a mistake. It was a very awkward situation, and...”

I was about to sit and think about it for a while, but there was really no point. I didn't need to think to know how I felt now that it had been dragged out of my heart and pulled into the light. Besides, the furious blushing on my cheeks ensured that any denial at this point would be hopelessly transparent.

“It's the truth,” I said, my voice only shaking slightly. “I really do love you.”

Misaki turned to me, her eyes wide and huge and beautiful. Everything about her was beautiful. She sat there, saying nothing, simply looking at me. Her ears were perked up and still, her facial expression serene.

“I... nobody's ever loved me,” she admitted.

“Nobody? Ever?”

Misaki shook her head. “N-no. I've never... never been treated like this, not even once in all of the centuries of my life. Never this kindly. Never like I was a real person, just like anyone else. Never.”

I stubbed out my cigarette and looked away, trying not to cry, but it was a hopeless effort. Tears gathered in the corner of my eyes and I blinked them away. I felt the warmth and softness of Misaki's hand on mine. I forced myself to turn back to face her, not really caring if she saw the tears that traced down my cheeks.

“You are a real person,” I insisted, blinking through my tears. “I don't care that you aren't human. I don't care that you're six hundred years old. I don't care that you were created to kill specters. I care about you. I want you to be happy. I want you to have a good life... and I really hope that you would want to spend it with me.”

I could see the tears starting to gather in the corner of her eyes. I wasn't sure if I could understand everything she was feeling, but I knew what it was like to be lonely and to feel unloved. Loneliness was a familiar companion of mine. I'd been alone, truly alone in my heart, since I left home for university and was separated from So-yi. Because of our family circumstances, I poured everything I had into my sister.

When I left to attend college without her, it was as if I'd been cast adrift. Due to our age difference, So-yi went off to college around the same time I was about to graduate. Mama had already moved back to Osaka to take care of our grandparents. At university, my sister met a girl she liked right off and they had a stable, loving relationship.

I graduated and found a decent job, but I didn't move forward. Unlike my little sister, I was not gently uprooted and replanted in a more spacious flowerpot. I was cut off at the stem and placed into a vase of water. I managed to bloom for a while, but over the past six years, my leaves and petals were withering.

Misaki's expression changed to one of concern. I suspected she could see the emotions of the past through my eyes, feel them through the astral thread that tied us together.

“You've been hurting for so long, too.” Her voice was sweet and bell-like, gentle and supportive yet with a core of hardened steel. Misaki's strength was a humbling, awe-inspiring thing. I could not even comprehend the force of will it took to survive and stay whole for so many lifetimes.

“Six years isn't six hundred,” I objected, rather lamely.

“We're different souls and you know it, Karin. I wasn't actually awake for all six centuries.” Misaki shifted on the bench and wrapped herself around me, curling her tail around the small of my back. She was warm and soft and an oh-so-comforting tingle began to permeate throughout my body.

“Misaki.” My speech slurred just slightly. I wanted to blame it on the alcohol.

“Karin.”

“I love you,” I murmured. “I... I was falling in love with you from the start, but I didn't want to admit it to myself, much less to anyone else. Love at first sight, that's supposed to be a fairy tale, not something that really happens to real people.”

Misaki didn't say anything. She just clung to me more tightly. I shifted a bit on the bench and draped my right arm over her shoulders and drew her closer. I felt her body through the thin fabric. It wasn't enough. I wanted—needed her to be even closer.

“I didn't want to think about it. My mind kept telling me that it was the Relic, the bond, the mana. I couldn't trust it, I had to be careful to make sure that it was really love and not just some weird side effect of the Relic's parasitic connection.”

I laughed softly but with little humor. “It figures that Mama was able to get me to examine my feelings more closely, and without even knowing any of the stickier aspects of the whole situation. I'm such a coward.”

Misaki shook her head. “You aren't a coward, Karin. You were just scared. That's not the same thing as being a coward.”

“Isn't it?”

“No, it's not. Not even the slightest bit similar.” Misaki's ears flicked a few times in rapid succession, perhaps to remove an insect. She took hold of my chin and turned me to face her, to look her in the eye.

“Even the most courageous person feels fear, just as anyone would. Bravery isn't the absence of fear, but the strength and tenacity to overcome your fear and live on in spite of it. You were afraid, but you didn't let your fear control you, or stop you.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you're a brave person,” Misaki told me, offering a gentle smile. She reached out and brushed aside my tears with a fingertip. The fingertip traced its way down my cheek to my lips.

“I love you, too,” she whispered. “I've always loved you, Karin. From the moment you risked your life to save mine. The moment you picked up the Relic, I knew you would be different than the wielders of the past.”

I didn't respond to that. It didn't need a response, really. We sat together for a long, silent moment. I could feel the down-soft golden fur of Misaki's vulpine ears against my cheek as she leaned on my shoulder. Neither of us moved for at least a full minute.

“I want to stay like this with you forever,” Misaki murmured. She shifted and curled more tightly around me. I enfolded her in my arms and laid her head against my chest, running my fingers through lustrous strands of red-tinged gold.

“Remember when I corrected you that it was the Relic that was bound to me?”

Misaki glanced up at me and rolled her eyes. “Of course I remember. That wasn't even very long ago. I remember things that happened five centuries ago and you forget what you did with your lighter at least three times a day.”

“Right, right, my apologies.” I giggled softly. “Anyway, I think I may need to amend my previous statement.”

“Oh?”

“It was true then, but now? We are each bound to the other.”

Misaki's smile was wide and joyful. “Mm, yes! We are absolutely, definitely bound to each other! Bound together by love!”

I couldn't help but laugh. The way she said it was just so adorable, over-the-top and corny, all in the sweetest possible way. She leaned forward and touched her forehead to mine. Those amazing green eyes locked on mine, plumbing the depths of my soul.

“I need to show you my love,” Misaki half-whispered, her tone sultry, breathy and a little bit strained. She disentangled herself from me and stood up, taking my hand in a grip that was both delicate and strong. “Let's go back inside.”

In a daze I stood up and let Misaki lead me back into the guest bedroom. The Takeda house had doors that locked, unlike the ones in the house I'd grown up in. Misaki practically dragged me into the bedroom and locked the door leading to the rest of the house. She turned around to face me. Her ears were laying flat and tilted as far forward as I'd ever seen them.

She smiled and plucked at the sashes of her yukata, loosening them until the garment fell open. Her shoulders shrugged lightly and the robe dropped to the floor, pooling around her ankles.

I stared at her, wide-eyed. She was perfect, flawless, lovely. Her skin was pale with the faintest hint of gold. Seeing Misaki nude for the first time, my eyes drunk her in. Her build was athletic yet soft, pure and deceptively feminine. She didn't have the more pronounced curves that I did. Her hips flared out more gently and her breasts were small and round and had delicate little pink nipples. Her thighs were smooth and melded into her torso as if they were poured from it, but I could see the taut, corded muscle beneath.

Misaki wore no underwear beneath the yukata. Between her legs was a fine dusting of red-tinged gold. I could just barely make out the contours underneath. Her lips curved into that faint, dangerous smile of hers as she approached me slowly.

“I want to see you, too.” Her voice was husky, thick with desire.

I fumbled with the ties to my yukata. My hands were shaking with nervous joy and I couldn't seem to untie the knots, but Misaki placed a steady hand upon mine. Mercifully, she took the lead, pushing my clumsy hands away and deftly removed the sashes, drawing the yukata off my body.

I felt a cool chill across my bare skin and then I felt her fingertips, brushing up my sides and to my breasts. They were larger than hers and not so perfectly shaped. I had big nipples, too, which always kind of embarrassed me when I saw myself naked in the mirror, but I felt no trace of shame as Misaki's fingers traced around them.

She drew her fingertips away, slowly, and took my hand, leading me down to the futon that I'd laid out earlier in the evening. I was pliant in her grasp, letting her guide me down to lay on the futon, resting my head on a pillow.

Misaki straddled across my thighs and leaned down to press her lips to mine. I felt as if I was going to melt into the floor as her tongue slipped into my mouth. My eyelids became so heavy I could barely keep them open, but I wanted to see her. I felt the softest fur of her tail caress my legs as she kissed me.

Her fingers slid down between my legs and I moaned into her mouth at the sudden and intense burst of pleasure. She drew her body up slightly and teasingly continued to brush against my mound with her fingertips. Her ears perked up and she grinned.

“Do you like this?”

I nodded vigorously. “Mm—y-yes, I do. It feels wonderful.”

“Good!”

Misaki let her fingertips linger for a moment longer on my opening before she decided to focus on something else for a moment. My vision was filled with waves of red-tinged gold and twitching vulpine ears as she bent down and brushed her lips across my nipples. I gasped as her teeth scraped across them and they instantly stiffened.

Incoherent murmurings were the only sound I could make as Misaki spent several very long moments sucking and licking, all the while her fingertips tracing slow, gentle lines of delicious warmth down my sides and across my tummy. I felt myself melt. My muscles were turning to jelly; I knew I couldn't move if I wanted to, but my body reacted to her attentions of its own accord.

I could feel her guide my hand to her as she slid forward, just slightly, and sat up, still straddling my legs. Misaki pressed my fingertips against something soft, warm and just slightly damp. She looked at me with a longing, encouraging expression. I think that she somehow knew that I'd never done this before and was patiently tutoring me.

I curled my fingers and started to rub. I felt clumsy and stupid, but Misaki reacted favorably. Her perked ears drooped forward and her tail curled up on itself against her back as she leaned backward and thrust her hips against my hand. I felt her heat and could smell her scent as she became wet in her excitement.

I felt myself relax, some of the anxiety slipping away as I watched my unskilled fingers bring Misaki more and more pleasure. My fingertips sank into her, slipping past her folds and she moaned loudly. My knuckles bumped against her and sent tremors through her body.

“D-do you like this?” I stammered, trying and failing to be as cool and sexy as she had been only a few minutes before.

Misaki nodded wordlessly. I could see that she wasn't quite as composed as before. Her eyelids were heavy, half-closed over eyes that struggled to focus on mine. Her cheeks were darkly flushed. I stifled a giggle as I noticed she was drooling, not wanting to ruin the moment.

I felt her hand against mine, shaking this time, and she pushed on it, urging me to go deeper inside her. I obliged her and felt her entire body shudder as she teetered on the edge, silently pleading with me to push her over it. My fingers thrust inside and drew out in rhythmic motion. Misaki rocked on her hips, grinding herself against my hand.

She let out a soft whimper and her back arched, her muscles tensing up as her orgasm rolled through her. I felt her clench around my fingers, but I didn't stop. She gasped, her lips parting, her tail curling tightly up against her arched back as she climaxed again.

Misaki's muscles relaxed and she leaned forward, her body swaying a bit as she tried to maintain her balance. She panted, her tongue lolling out of her open mouth and her ears pricked up. Her tail relaxed and uncurled, swishing to and fro across my legs. After a moment of recovery, she found words again.

“Um, yes, I definitely liked that.”

I giggled. “I'm happy you did.”

“I'm going to have to return the favor, then,” Misaki promised. Before I could respond, she rolled off of me and placed her hands on my thighs, spreading my legs apart. I watched, feeling a deep longing desire build up within me as she positioned herself between them and winked at me.

“What are you—oh, oh...”

Misaki's lips brushed against me. I could feel her nose press lightly against the clean-shaven and soft flesh as she laid tiny little kisses on me. I groaned a little too loudly for my own comfort as I felt something warm, silky and wet slide into me. The weakness that stole over my body earlier returned and redoubled. If it hadn't been for the pillow I was resting on, I wouldn't have been able to keep my eyes on her.

Even then it was difficult, almost impossible, really. Misaki's tongue was inside me, her lips against my petal-soft outer folds. I felt a burning heat that was all at once soothing and powerfully euphoric, scrambling my thoughts and blanking my mind. Wavy locks of her thick red-tinged golden hair dragged lines of fire across my hips and lower abdomen.

There was no possible way I could last very long like this. My hands sought something to grip, to hold onto. I pressed them to my breasts and clenched and kneaded, sending lesser jolts of pleasure through my body as Misaki's tongue and lips slowly and gently did amazing things to me.

My back arched as I felt myself coming closer to climax. I couldn't possibly hold it back any longer. I felt her fingertips spread my folds apart, intensifying the sensations multiple times over. I gasped, my back still arched, my head thrust back, no longer able to keep my eyes on what she was doing.

I couldn't last any longer. This was my limit. I couldn't stop myself from moaning loudly, no longer capable of caring who might overhear. Misaki's tongue drew up and focused directly on my most sensitive spot.

I shuddered, a leaf in a gale-force wind, and let out a strangely quiet cry of pleasure as I felt the orgasm crash over me. My muscles contracted so tightly that my toes curled up and I thrashed on the futon, but Misaki wouldn't release me just yet. Her tongue kept up its merciless assault and I felt wave after wave of agonizing, delicious ecstasy flood through my body.

Misaki slowly pulled away, sitting up on her knees between my legs, her fingertips tracing across my thighs. I let out a slurred stream of nonsense syllables, gasping for breath as I tried very hard to open my eyes and meet hers.

She just sat there, her cheeks and lips shiny with my wetness, that trademarked faint and dangerous smile on her face. I somehow managed to blink away the haze that seemed to completely envelop my awareness.

“Misaki,” I managed, the fog clearing away, feeling the strength slowly return to my limbs. I struggled to move, levering my body up into a sitting position. My breath was still coming in short, rapid pants as the natural high of the repeated orgasms receded, leaving me feeling spent, filled with a fuzzy, contented sort of exhaustion.

My lover favored me with an impish grin. “Did you like that?”

“Um... yes!”

“Good!”

She giggled and wiped her face on the edge of the futon's coverlet. I didn't bother to object, knowing that there had to be more of the same underneath me. It'd definitely be going into the wash in the morning. Absolutely. Preferably before Mama saw it.

We disentangled our legs from each other and drew close together in a loving embrace, enjoying the afterglow, not caring that we were both more than a little sticky and sweaty. I lifted Misaki's chin up and gazed into her eyes for a long moment. Our lips met again, lightly, for just a moment, then more urgently. She pulled me into the kiss with a fierce kind of wild passion that was just perfectly appropriate.

Some indeterminate period of time later, I pulled away, breaking the kiss. My heart was full to bursting. I could barely contain my joy. If it hadn't been well after midnight, I would have wanted to sing, though I was sure everyone within earshot was glad I didn't. Misaki brushed a lock of wavy hair from her face and grinned.

“That was yummy,” she announced.

“What was?” I inquired in a sly tone. “The kiss, or the...”

Misaki burst into a fit of giggles.

“Both!”

effulgence

Many minutes passed before Misaki and I were willing to release each other long enough to turn out the lights and climb into bed. As I lay there on the futon, Misaki curled around me, her tail brushing lightly against my ankles, I marveled at what had just happened.

“That was my first time,” I admitted, stroking her hair softly.

“I suspected as much.”

I felt my cheeks heat up a bit. “Is that why you, um, took the lead?”

“Yes. I didn't want you to feel bad about it, or to feel awkward, so I made sure to guide you. I admit I was a little surprised that someone your age wouldn't have much experience in these matters, but I suppose your circumstances...”

“Yeah.” I closed my eyes and sighed. “Things just... got all confused. After Dad and Will died, everything was a mess. Mama wasn't really processing on all cores and So-yi needed me. It was like that until I left for university.”

“Being removed from the familiar left you without direction,” Misaki reasoned.

“Exactly, yeah. I had put so much of myself into making sure So-yi had as good a life as she could for those last four years. Mama was just—I mean, I don't blame her. She lost her husband and her firstborn child. It was bad enough for me to lose my father and older brother, but I held a lot of anger toward them for how they treated So-yi. I can't even imagine how painful it was for Mama.”

Misaki's expression became pensive. “I don't know how it feels to lose a loved one. I was completely serious when I told you that you are the first person to ever love me.”

“Consider yourself lucky, then. It's the worst feeling, the absolute worst.” I yawned and scratched at my scalp. At this point I was really craving a cigarette. I sat up and tossed the coverlet off, not bothering to retrieve my yukata. I opened the pack and pulled a smoke out and slid the shutter open that led to the back yard. Kaede must've gone back inside the house through the doggy-door, because the yard was empty.

Misaki followed me outside. It was a bit chilly, but I wasn't going to be out here very long anyway. I lit my cigarette and blew out a plume of smoke.

“You never really tried to find love, did you?”

I glanced at Misaki. She hadn't bothered to put her robe back on, either. We both sat out on the bench naked under the stars while I indulged my habit. I didn't answer the question right away, instead taking a few puffs to sort of soften the blow to myself.

“Not really. I mean, okay, I went on a few dates, but none ever really worked out. I think I pursued other women more out of pressure and expectation than any real spark or feelings.”

Misaki's head tilted slightly. “You never felt deeper attraction to anyone?”

“No. I mean, well, yeah, maybe. There was one girl, when I was at uni. I thought she was really wonderful. She reminded me of So-yi a lot. Really strong, smart, funny, and we got along well but she... didn't feel the same way about me. She wasn't interested in other women like that.”

Misaki frowned. “I'm sorry it didn't work out.”

“It was just awkward. We usually had fun together, but there was a point where things just got weird and we ended up parting ways. I wasn't confident I was ready to make someone else the center of my attention. I was still worrying a lot about my sister, especially in the first few years.”

“Karin, don't take this the wrong way,” Misaki began, her tone hesitant, “but was it possible that you were in love with So-yi, and that was why you were never able to give your heart to another?”

Wow, she was certainly perceptive. It had taken me years to figure that out and here Misaki was, plumbing the depths of my soul in all its tattered, shitty glory. I took a long, heavy drag off the cigarette and stubbed it out only to light another. I was chain-smoking a lot as of late. It was something I did in response to greater than normal stress levels.

“Yeah. It took me years to figure that out.”

Misaki's expression was one of sympathy. “I thought that might be the case. You must have compared every woman you met to her, at least subconsciously, and lost interest in them because they were not your sister.”

“I'm still in love with her.” I flicked ash over the edge of the porch into the yard. “I started going to counseling not too long ago, trying to work through this. Now I recognize it for what it is, but I can't make the feelings go away so easily.”

“Was that part of why you were so hesitant to admit your feelings for me?”

I nodded. “A small part, maybe. I'm... um... really very taken with you, if you hadn't noticed. Head over fucking heels, to be more precise.”

“Oh, I noticed.” That smile again. “I realized it before you did.”

“Come on,” I complained. “You've got way more experience in love than I do! I still don't know what the hell's going on with my head about, well, all of the time.”

“We should make sure that you learn what's going on, then, and quickly. Remember, we do have a job to do here. Star didn't send us to Japan to go on holiday. We have to find the summoner who called the shardwight.”

“I know.” I puffed a few times and stubbed the butt out. “Come on, we should get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a long day if we're going to have to search all over Kyoto to find the summoner.”

coalescence

We left the Takeda family home relatively early in the morning, despite the late night we had. It would have been even earlier, but Mama roped me into helping with some chores around the house before we left. I think in some ways she'll never, ever stop seeing me as that skinny and awkward little twelve-year-old girl with perpetually messy hair.

These days I was a bit more meticulous with the care of my hair, but I wasn't so sure how well I was doing with regards to growing out of the “awkward” part. Maybe not even the “little girl” part, either.

The drive to Kyoto proper took a half an hour longer than I thought it would. It was just after noon by the time we checked in at the hotel AEGIS arranged for us. Inside the room was a little surprise courtesy of Star: a small care package containing dossiers for the companies and corporate officers suspected of involvement in the apparent industrial espionage case. There was also a collection of hacked access cards that would give me access to properties owned or operated by the same.

AEGIS couldn't get me a gun, at least not for this. Japan was the most difficult country in the world to smuggle firearms into. Obviously the Relic was with me and could never be otherwise. The sword would phase in and out of physical reality whenever I willed it, but, well, to put it bluntly, I sucked with it in a real fight.

Star did the best she could and armed me with data. We'd already gone over the paperwork pretty extensively and had a very good idea where to start looking for our summoner. The information narrowed the search area down considerably; the rest would be up to us.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, dropping it in Misaki's lap. She turned and looked at me curiously.

“Contact Star and let her know that we're heading to the first search area. Tell her what you told me this morning. I know we don't usually maintain contact this often but... I don't know. Call it a hunch.”

Misaki nodded. “Okay.”

I turned off the freeway exit and onto the downtown streets. Driving in Kyoto was much easier than I'd expected and the rental car definitely helped with its built-in navigation system. I was hoping that we'd get lucky, but I wasn't counting on it. I made sure to stock up on snacks, drinks and extra cigarettes, just in case.

“I sent the message.” Misaki handed my phone back. I pulled out a cigarette and lit it, rolling the window down slightly, letting the plume of smoke drift out of the rental car. I wondered if Star would be annoyed I voided the deposit.

“How sure are you that it's the Morita family?”

“If I had to quantify it... ninety-five percent sure,” Misaki replied. “When we destroyed the shardwight, I could feel the traces of their invocations in the miasma. If someone else summoned the specter, it would have to be someone who trained with either the Morita or Tsukimura, but wasn't actually a member of either family.”

“Sounds like bullshit to me.” I puffed a bit and blew smoke out the window. “From what you told me these clans aren't the sharing type. I can't imagine either of them giving up their arcane lore to an outsider.”

“Like I said, ninety-five percent sure.”

“Let's not tell Star all her research was for nothing if we manage to get lucky and bingo on the first search area.”

Misaki giggled. “I won't tell if you don't!”

I turned off at the next left and drove through Shimogyo. Despite the fact that I hadn't been here in years, Kyoto was definitely a city that felt familiar to me. The buildings were smaller, the streets felt more open and it wasn't quite as claustrophobic as the endless concrete valleys of Tokyo or New York City. I kept driving, passing hotel after hotel as I rounded Kyoto Station and got on a main thoroughfare heading south in the direction Misaki had indicated.

A few minutes later and the car emerged into a more ordinary series of corporate and government offices. If I squinted and ignored the profusion of signs plastered everywhere in kanji and kana, I could almost mistake this place for home.

The next hour was spent trying to move from block to block in the ward without looking suspicious. This is much more difficult than it seems, especially when you're in a car, but Misaki couldn't exactly use her seeking spells on foot where any random pedestrian could see her trace glowing runic sigils in the air.

We settled into a pattern and I fully expected this to continue for at least another hour before we had to move to a different search area as to not attract attention. After only five minutes of searching, Misaki went rigid in her seat. She tapped my shoulder and pointed to a completely unremarkable building about two blocks away.

“There!”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” she said, her lips compressing into a thin line. “I've been following the lines of force throughout the city and this is where the signature is strongest. In that building we should find the summoner.”

I gave her my phone again. “Verify it against Star's data.”

Misaki gave me an annoyed look, but did what I asked. After a few moments of scrolling through the scanned documents of corporate and financial connections, she put the device to sleep and handed it back to me.

“It's right. I was right the whole time, just like I told you. This building is owned by a company that is connected to Morita, the most powerful servant house to Tsukimura.”

I pulled the car over into an empty parking spot and killed the engine.

“So what's the plan?”

“I can feel motes of loose mana gathering to a central location in the building. They're slightly distorted, exactly what you'd expect from a human magus using his mundane working hours to replenish his capacity.”

“I wish I had a gun,” I muttered.

Misaki's expression became sympathetic. “You've been saying that ever since we got here. Don't worry, Karin—I'm here with you and I'll protect you. I won't let anything bad happen to you, love. I promise.”

“So... what do you think?” I inquired, trying not to blush at Misaki's words. “Do we just bust in, challenge the summoner to honorable combat and start throwing fireballs, or do we want to play this a little more subtly?”

She gave me a dirty look. “Be a little more serious. This isn't America and AEGIS can't get us out of trouble nearly so easily here. The people we're going up against are powerful and politically influential. We can't count on the local government or law enforcement to play fair with us.”

“Yeah, I thought not.” I opened the door and stepped out of the car. Misaki followed and we walked toward the building in question in silence. I lit another cigarette and tried to look as casual as I could, even taking my phone out and pretending to stare at it while Misaki tried to get an exact position on the summoner.

It didn't take her very long. She motioned for me to come closer and wrapped her arms around me, clasping her hands at my lower back as she drew close for a hug. It was nice, and I was sure she enjoyed it as much as I did, but I knew it was brought on by a desire to appear less suspicious.

She kept her voice low as she reported her findings. “The summoner is on the second floor. I can feel the mana converging there, then disappearing.”

“Can you make out his surroundings?”

“No.” Misaki shook her head against my chest. “I can't see anything, but I can feel the path the loose mana takes as he absorbs it. He's definitely there and I don't think he has any idea he's being tracked.”

I nodded. We slowly walked past the building, trying to study the layout as best we could without looking like crooks trying to case a place for a robbery. Well, sure, we did intend to break in, but not to steal anything, no! Just to kill someone. No big deal, right?

“There's a loading area in the back with a single locked door. Only one security camera covering it,” Misaki murmured.

“You can deal with it, right?”

She smiled faintly. “Of course. Come on, let's go.”

I slipped back against the building and we made our way into the loading area. If anyone caught us, we could just start making out, instantly manufacturing an explanation as to why we'd be back there. Fortunately there wasn't anyone around and the video coverage of the security camera didn't quite make it this far.

“I'm disabling the camera.”

Misaki traced a small, angular rune in the air. I felt a strange sort of crackle, similar to that of static electricity buildup, form in the air around us. I watched as a burst of argent light flashed from inside the camera's protective casing, the electrical discharge powerful enough to crack it from the heat. A plume of acrid smoke rose from the fissures. Clearly, it was thoroughly disabled.

“That'll definitely get someone's attention,” I warned.

“I'm sure it will.” Misaki's lips curved into her usual dangerous little smile. “In fact, I'm counting on it.”

The building security wasn't quite as shitty as it looked from the outside. It only took a little over thirty seconds before a security guard emerged from the single door beneath the camera. He looked up at the device and noticed the damage and the smoke.

Misaki's smile went a bit feral as she twitched a finger, tracing a very abbreviated rune that would repeat and feed back into her previous spell. A small but brilliant arc of electricity leaped from the mangled security camera and struck the guard, knocking him unconscious as surely as if he'd been hit with a high-voltage stun gun.

We rushed over to the fallen guard and I checked his pulse. It was strong and steadily calming down. Misaki's shock bolt hadn't done any real damage to him. He'd wake up in about twenty minutes with a really bad headache, but otherwise would be fine.

I relieved the guard of his security pass and propped him up into a sitting position near the door and against the railing so he wouldn't fall off the raised platform and crack his head open on the concrete below. I took out a cigarette from my pack and left it in his shirt pocket by way of apology.

“Karin, we need to go now,” Misaki urged. “The summoner can't help but notice me if I keep casting spells. He'll feel the disturbances in the mana.”

“You think he'll run if he detects you?”

Misaki let out a bark of unamused laughter. “Wouldn't you?”

“Point,” I conceded. The two of us slowly opened the security door and peered inside, making sure we weren't walking into any conscious security guards. There were none that I could see. I walked into the corridor and Misaki followed.

The nearest door to our right led into what looked like a security checkpoint, probably where the truck drivers would sign in so that they could get a guest pass and unload the building's deliveries. We took momentary shelter inside the little room so that Misaki would have a bit of privacy to shield us from eyes both organic and electronic.

“The invisibility charm won't last very long,” she reminded me. “We have to be quick and quiet. Don't bump into anyone.”

“I'm ready. Do it.”

Misaki traced a complex runic pattern in the air with both hands, the glowing lines forming a sort of highly stylized pictograph of a half-closed eye. This particular charm was the same she used to hide her inhuman features when we were out in public, but several orders of magnitude more powerful.

Small, uncomfortable pinpricks of nothingness enveloped my body. It wasn't exactly painful but it wasn't something I'd do for fun. I watched as my own body seemed to fade to almost total translucence. I could just barely make out the shape of Misaki's body.

“We can still see each other through our bond with the Relic,” she informed me. “We won't be visible at all to anyone else. We need to move fast.”

I didn't bother responding, instead stepping back out into the corridor. Misaki took the lead, following the gathering mana to its destination. I couldn't see it or sense it myself, but she appeared to know exactly where to go.

Opening the door without being obvious took a little imagination. We settled for just barely pushing it open and squeezing through, hoping that would be less obvious than shoving it wide open. The corridor led us to what looked like a shipping area connected to the truck dock outside.

“There's a stairwell that leads to the upper floors,” Misaki whispered.

“I see it.”

The shipping area wasn't exactly busy, but there were a lot of workers moving product from one place to another. A small automated forklift carried pallets full of stacked boxes from one storage area to another while jumpsuit-clad laborers separated them out. I couldn't tell what was actually in the crates, but they looked like the sort of thing used to transport delicate electronics.

We made it to the stairwell without incident and slipped the door just as we'd done before. It was clearly an emergency stairwell intended for use in the event of a fire or if the elevators were out of service. Climbing up the flights of stairs proved to be a bit harder when you could barely see your own feet and body, but we managed without too much trouble.

“Very close now.” Misaki peered through the small window cut into the door leading out of the stairwell and into the elevator lobby on 2F. She cursed under her breath and I felt myself grinning. My bad influence, no doubt.

“There's a group of people waiting for the elevator. Wait. They're getting on the elevator. Okay, it's clear. Go.”

I pushed the door open just enough to slide through and emerged into the 2F elevator lobby. Misaki was right behind me and we both took cover in the corner away from the door, just in case someone saw it pop open a few dozen centimeters. When no one came to investigate, we relaxed for a moment.

Misaki led me out of the elevator lobby and into the second-floor offices. They were arranged in rows of five, with corridors running between each row of offices. All of the doors were labeled with a three-digit number, the first digit indicating the floor we were currently on. Most of them were locked, the offices behind them dark. Misaki stopped near a corner office and tapped me lightly on the shoulder.

“In there.”

I materialized the Relic in my hand, feeling the sword's weight and peculiar warmth in my hand once again. I felt a little more comfortable with some kind of weapon in hand, even one I was pretty bad at using.

Misaki threw the door open and we both rushed inside. The moment it shut behind us, she canceled the invisibility charm.

The man behind the desk stiffened as he realized his office was no longer empty. He looked up at us and his eyes narrowed. For someone who just had two intruders appear out of thin air in his office, one of whom carried a meter-plus-long warblade, he seemed uncharacteristically calm and collected.

“I was wondering how long it would take you to reach me.”

His tone was genial and polite, but his eyes were cold and hard as ice. I made the mistake of looking into them. He appeared to be an ordinary corporate officer, but some fragment of the soul-deadening evil he channeled was embodied in his creepy, unblinking stare. I avoided looking into them.

“You knew we were coming?”

“Of course,” the summoner replied. “I knew an intruder was inside the building the moment that spirit bitch cast a spell. The mana was disturbed in a way that was... intimately familiar to me.”

“As if I would believe the poisoned words of a Morita summoner,” Misaki hissed, her tail lashing in agitation.

“I was not speaking to you, dog,” the Morita snapped. Then he turned to look at me, an apologetic expression on his bland face. “I apologize for the interruption, but this is most insulting. It seems that you haven't yet trained your pet to behave properly when in the presence of its betters.”

“Misaki isn't my pet,” I growled. I raised the sword and pointed it at his head, the tip less than a few scant centimeters away from his nose. Morita seemed completely unruffled by this.

“You named this dog?” Morita marveled, his expression clearly broadcasting his disgust and condescension. I was starting to get really pissed. Fortunately, that worked out in my favor completely, since we were here to kill him. This wasn't a case where I had to restrain myself, but his confidence and arrogance in the face of certain death did concern me more than a little. The word “trap” started to spell itself out in my mind.

“I am not a dog, you sanctimonious piece of shit.” Misaki's ears laid flat and back, her eyes narrowed dangerously. I'd never actually seen her this angry, but for whatever reason she still hesitated to try and rip him apart. Maybe she was getting the same sort of uneasy feeling I was.

The Morita summoner ignored her completely. “I am no fool. I know you've come here to kill me. The fact that you haven't yet tried means you understand that all is... how should I put this? That all is... not as it seems.”

Not good. Not fucking good. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Not too smart, are you? Allow me to elucidate, then. You have something that belongs to my superiors... and they want it back. Unfortunately, as we both know, relinquishing the Relic to its rightful owners will require the forfeiture of your life.”

I leaned toward him, the tip of the Relic less than a centimeter from his face. My own anger and desire to kill this disgusting little fuck woke the power of the weapon, causing the razor edge of the blade to start glowing with intense heat and power. Still the Morita summoner did not react. He knew just as well as I did that I wasn't going to do anything to him, at least until he finished speaking.

“That leaves us at something of an impasse,” Morita continued. He lifted a half-finished tumbler of whiskey from his desk and took a small sip, letting out a contented sigh. “Would you like a drink, Miss Ashley?”

I knew he was trying to throw me off balance. I didn't bother to respond with words, but I did pull the sword back, keeping it out in a loose guard stance. If necessary I could snap up into a slash that would probably hurt him badly, if not kill him outright.

“Very well. As I was saying, we are at an impasse. I'm sure that you don't actually wish to die, and none of the usual inducements would be effective in convincing you to commit suicide. After all, you can't take it with you when you go, yes?” Morita chuckled at his own dark humor.

“So what?” I demanded.

“I am terribly sorry. This was not my idea, but orders from my superiors. I hope you understand. We realize we are asking for a lot—in fact, the most you could ever possibly give. Considering the gravity of the situation, we felt that a certain degree of leverage was necessary to ensure that you would comply with our request to return the stolen property to the Tsukimura.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. No. No, no, no. They didn't. They did not fucking do what I think they did. They didn't. No.

Morita's bland expression was replaced by a sinister narrowing of the eyes and a supercilious smirk as he watched my reaction—the reaction I was absolutely positive he expected. I stared at him, impotent fury raging behind my eyes. My grip on the Relic tightened to the point where my knuckles whitened.

“If we would have had the luxury of time, I'm sure we would have secured your beloved younger sister So-yi—or is it brother? I can never remember with such corrupt sexual degenerates—”

“Don't you fucking say her name,” I snarled, cutting him off and damn near leaping forward to cut him apart. I couldn't, though. Mama's life depended on me not being a hotheaded idiot. “You don't deserve to say her name!”

“How needlessly melodramatic.” Morita finished his whiskey and set the empty glass down. “Now, listen closely or your mother will soon join her husband and firstborn son in death.”

Inwardly I was seething, fury barely contained by dread. The Relic was reacting to my intense anger and hatred of this pustule of an excuse for a human being; I'd never seen the edge of the blade glow so intensely white and pure.

“The Tsukimura has sent a representative to the Takeda family home. You will meet with him and arrange the terms of your relinquishment of the Relic. In exchange, we will not kill Yoshiko Ashley. Furthermore, House Tsukimura and all servant houses will pledge to leave So-yi Ashley alone.”

I glanced at Misaki. Her tail stood straight out, stiff as a board, the fur standing up on end to the point where it looked twice its normal size. She looked as if she were just barely containing murderous rage.

“Looks like I don't have a choice,” I murmured.

“Quite true,” Morita noted, his tone mocking. “Now, if there is nothing else, I'll thank you to get out of my office.”

I released the Relic's physical form and tried very hard to keep my thoughts from revealing themselves outwardly. Worry for Mama and So-yi had my mind inflamed, but even as upset as I was, I was fundamentally a person who operated on logic.

A person who just noticed a glaring inconsistency.

“Actually, there is something else,” I said to Morita in a conversational tone, trying as hard as I could to keep my anger tamped down.

“You have been given your instructions. My hospitality is reaching its limit, Miss Ashley. If you do not wish to be responsible for the deaths of the remaining members of your family, I strongly suggest you make haste and meet with the Tsukimura representative.”

“Oh, this won't take long at all.” My stricken expression fell away and was replaced with something else, something far colder. “If we are to negotiate with a member of the Tsukimura family rather than you, Mr. Morita, it stands to reason that you are—Misaki, what's a good way to put this?”

“Expendable,” Misaki growled.

Morita's bland, superior expression fell from his face. Terror widened his eyes as he realized that Tsukimura had hung him out to dry, knowing full well that the negotiations did absolutely nothing to ensure he made it out of this confrontation alive.

“Expendable, yes. You know what that means, don't you? How does it feel to be the Tsukimura's disposable errand boy, Mr. Morita?”

“No! This cannot be!” Morita shrieked. “I have served Tsukimura faithfully for twenty years! I will not be discarded in such—”

“We don't have time for this.” I snapped, cutting him off. I placed a hand on Misaki's shoulder and squeezed it lightly. “Misaki.”

Misaki's vicious scowl slowly transformed, her ears laying flat as her lips curved into a stone-cold slasher smile. The fur on her tail relaxed and the appendage began to swish to and fro in eager anticipation of a task that she relished more than a little.

Flames engulfed her hands. The Morita summoner scrambled to his feet and started tracing a runic sigil in the air, desperately trying to bring up some sort of magical defense, but it was hopeless. His protective invocation was far too slow to activate, but Misaki's spell-flame was quicker than thought.

The blazing line of constricting fire slashed through the air and wrapped itself loosely around Morita's body. This time, however, the smell of burning fabric and melting flesh filled the air as Misaki willed the elemental bindings to burn hot and true. Morita screamed in incomprehensible agony as the astral flames dug into his flesh, instantly converting skin and fat and muscle into sickly-sweet smoke.

“The only reason I'm going to kill you quickly,” Misaki explained, her tone sweet and mocking, “is that we're in a hurry. You're really lucky, you know.”

The flaming coil vanished, leaving diagonal blackened lines of horrific burns visible in their place. Misaki brought her blazing hands up and loosed a searing jet of flame from both palms directly at Morita's head. His screams were cut short by the killing blast, the intense magical heat melting his flesh and vaporizing his hair. The fluid in his eyes boiled, causing them to rupture with a sickening pop.

Morita's roasted corpse fell to the floor with a thud.

the red

Misaki's chosen method of killing the Morita summoner turned out to be useful in more ways than one. In her anger she hadn't been thinking clearly enough to modulate her fire precisely, transforming Morita's office into a flaming inferno. We made good use of the conflagration—and the fire alarm it triggered—to escape.

In the ensuing confusion as the building staff evacuated and the fire brigade showed up to extinguish the blaze, it was easy enough for us to slip out of the building. We managed to get back to the rental car without being noticed.

I drove as fast as I dared, reminding myself repeatedly not to exceed the speed limit by too much. It wasn't a race for the clock, but I dreaded what might be happening to Mama while we were stuck driving back to Osaka. My stomach was clenching in upon itself, partly from dread and partly because we hadn't eaten anything since leaving the Takeda house.

“Here.” Misaki held a piece of sour strawberry candy out to me. I took it and popped it in my mouth. It wasn't real food, but it was something.

“Can I have something more substantial? I'm starving.”

“There's a few sweet rice bread rolls and milk coffees. I'll get some for you.” Misaki unbuckled her seat belt and reached behind the passenger seat to retrieve the snack food. She unwrapped the little roll and handed it to me. I took a bite and swallowed. It tasted pretty good but I was absolutely not in the right mood to enjoy food. Right now it was just fuel that I desperately needed.

“Let me have a cigarette,” Misaki muttered. I glanced at her and shrugged, pulling a smoke out of my pocket and handing it to her. I'd never seen her so stressed out. I guess she needed something to calm her, but I wasn't really sure what an immortal spirit could actually get out of nicotine.

Her fingertip emitted a tiny flame and she lit the cigarette, inhaling deeply. The act seemed to calm her, even if the chemical itself probably didn't do anything to her inhuman physiology.

“Are you okay?”

Misaki closed her eyes and puffed at the smoke. “No. I'm not okay.”

“I'm not okay either.”

“They've been using us,” she growled, flicking ashes out the window. “This whole case with the industrial espionage, it was bait. Bait in a trap. And we fell for it. Fell for it like a fish chomping on the hook.”

I wasn't really in the mood for recriminations. “You don't need to remind me.”

“I'm sorry.”

“We don't have time to waste placing blame.” I turned my eyes back to the road, trying to resist the temptation to start weaving through traffic at high speeds. “We have to get to Mama before those... those monsters hurt her.”

“We're almost there, Karin.” Misaki's expression softened and she gazed on me with a mixture of sympathy and guilt. Fuck. She felt guilty. She was upset at herself for falling into the trap. I strongly suspected she was also blaming herself for the fact that the Tsukimura representative was holding Mama hostage.

“We'll save her, love.” Misaki placed her free hand on my thigh and squeezed it reassuringly.

“Yeah... I know. I know.”

I was speeding a little now, but not enough to attract police attention. Traffic was light this time of day, a little after rush hour. Everyone had pretty much already gone home. The air was starting to grow much colder as darkness began to fall.

It took another fifteen minutes before we arrived at the Takeda home. The house was well-lit and looked positively normal from the outside. Of course, the sort of people we were up against weren't stupid. They may have had significant influence in this country, but they couldn't do anything too overt without straining those valuable relationships.

I parked the car and we got out, choosing not to manifest the Relic just yet. I doubted this would end in fighting, not with the sort of leverage they possessed. The front door was unlocked, which wasn't unusual for this time of day, but I knew it was so that I'd be able to get inside.

The house looked exactly the same as it did earlier that morning. I walked through the hallway to the largest room in the house, the parlor connected to the open kitchen. Misaki's vulpine ears swiveled and twitched, trying to catch any suspicious noises.

In the dining room the kitchen table had been upended and shoved against the far wall. A single chair sat in the middle of the room. My mother was tied to the chair, her body held fast by several wraps of duct tape. She wasn't gagged.

“Karin!”

I could barely stop myself from bursting into tears. Bruises were visible on her arms and face. She had one obvious black eye and blood trickled from her nose. Her lip was split. I could tell she hadn't given up easily. I wasn't surprised at all; my mother was a fighter through and through.

“Welcome home, Karin Ashley,” a rich, sonorous masculine voice intoned from the kitchen proper. A man walked out and stood next to the chair my mother was tied to. He was about my age, perhaps a bit younger. Shorter than me, but more powerfully built, with a compact, well-muscled frame. I noticed his lip was bleeding just a little and that he seemed to favor one leg over the other. Mama must've really put up a good fight.

“Tsukimura,” Misaki snarled. “Saitou Tsukimura, fifth living son of the patriarch Isao.”

Tsukimura blinked in surprise, clearly not expecting to be recognized. His smug expression melted into one of disgust and annoyance.

“It seems our spies weren't exaggerating,” Saitou muttered, his thoughtful tone at odds with the acidic glare he directed at Misaki. “It is unfortunate that you've taught the spirit so many bad habits, but it matters little. She adapts to new circumstances very quickly, as I'm sure you've discovered.”

“Karin, what the hell is going—”

Saitou turned and cuffed Mama across the face, cutting her off. “I did not give you permission to speak.”

My eyes narrowed to slits. “You must really want to die.”

“I have no lasting attachment to the physical world, but I will not die, not tonight and not by your hands.” Saitou started to walk around the chair my mother was tied to, slowly and deliberately. I was perceptive enough to realize he was trying to intimidate me, but wouldn't likely strike my mother again.

“You want the Relic.”

“Of course. It belongs to us. It was passed to the first head of the Tsukimura clan nearly two centuries ago. Out of the eighty-one wielders of the blade since it was forged over six hundred years ago, twenty of those have been sons of Tsukimura. That our family's greatest treasure has fallen into the hands of a mongrel woman... well, that is something of an embarrassment.”

“I'll show you what this mongrel woman can do.” I materialized the Relic in my right hand and dropped into a guard stance. Saitou stared at me, confused, and threw his head back and laughed.

“Your skill is less than nothing next to mine, yet you would challenge me? Interesting! I would like nothing more than to take you up on the offer, but Lord Isao gave me specific instructions. We can't risk the delusional spirit committing suicide, now can we?”

Misaki stiffened beside me. I could tell she wasn't expecting him to bring something like that up. I didn't even know it was possible that she could kill herself in order to destroy the Relic, but now all the oddities of the Tsukimura plan were starting to make sense. The disparate pieces finally clicked into place.

“I get it now. You can't simply kill me and take the Relic without risking Misaki killing herself and destroying it permanently. That's why you need me to voluntarily hand it over.”

“Correct.” Saitou paced across the floor, standing between me and my mother. “Lord Isao will imprison the Relic's imbued spirit in such a way that she will not be able to turn her powers on herself. You will then sacrifice your own life to sever the astral bond between yourself and the Relic. Under my father's control, the spirit will have no choice but to bind the Relic to a son of Tsukimura.”

“And in exchange, you will let my family live,” I finished for him.

Saitou shook his head. “It's not quite that simple, Miss Ashley. Like my father, I am a man who thinks ahead. To ensure that your bloodlust will not overcome your good sense, we have placed an insurance policy on dear Yoshiko here.”

My stomach felt as if it vanished from my body and was replaced with a boulder made of ice. Misaki's eyes widened in horror. I wasn't exactly sure but I think she must've figured out what Tsukimura was getting at.

“Monster!” Misaki cried. “I will tear you to pieces! I will burn your body into ash and scatter the fragments across the nearest garbage dump!”

Saitou glared at her. “You will do nothing of the sort. Quit your insufferable barking, dog. Your betters are speaking.”

“Tell me what you've done.” I released the Relic's material form. Saitou wore his own sword strapped to his hip. I had no reason to doubt he was being honest with his assessment of his own skill. If he was trained I had absolutely no chance at all.

“Very well. I have implanted a miasma seed within your mother's body. If you do not do as we ask, it will bloom and a pestilence specter will possess her body. If you yield to our demands, my father will release the summoning and the seed will dissipate.”

I was trapped. Even if I could kill him here—and with Misaki's help it wasn't totally hopeless, after all—I couldn't stop my mother's death without confronting the Tsukimura patriarch directly.

“What do I need to do?”

Saitou reached into a pocket and drew out a small black pebble, etched with angular runes that appeared similar to the gestures Misaki performed when casting spells. This he held out to me.

“This is a wardstone that will allow you safe passage into the Tsukimura ancestral shrine. Allow the spirit to absorb it and she will be able to lead you to the meeting place. Any others who try to enter without protection will find the consequences... unpleasant.”

I took the stone and held it in my hand. It felt strange, corrupt, profoundly wrong and I realized that it had been saturated with miasma.

Saitou gazed at me with dead eyes. “Go to the shrine tomorrow. Bring only yourself and the Relic. If you uphold your end of the bargain, your family will be safe. This I swear on my honor as Tsukimura.”

“Your honor isn't worth shit,” I snarled.

“A mongrel's words are worth even less.” Saitou's expression darkened. “Regardless, you have no choice but to trust us, unless you wish to watch all that you hold dear in this world to die horribly. If you fail us, your mother will become possessed by the specter and it will likely kill many people in this neighborhood before it is put down. We will hunt down your deviant, insane brother and kill him.”

My head was spinning and I felt intensely sick. It was only the heat of my rage that kept me standing, kept me from doubling over and vomiting all over the hardwood floor. I looked over at Misaki. Her eyes were wide, horrified and filled with sympathy and sadness. She wasn't even afraid that she would once again end up as a slave to evil people who cared only for power and influence. In her eyes I could only see bright pain and the knowledge that she would lose the person she loved.

To relinquish the Relic I would have to kill myself. If I refused to spare Misaki endless years of servitude to the Tsukimura clan, they would murder my family. My mind began to work furiously, trying desperately to figure out what the fuck I could possibly do to get out of this, to take a third option.

“We have planned this very carefully, Miss Ashley,” Saitou said, apparently realizing I was trying to think of a way out. “You have no choice but to acquiesce to our demands. You will either cooperate or you will watch your world die.”

Misaki seemed to wither beside me. My ears caught her quiet sobs. She wasn't even trying to hide her emotions from the Tsukimura bastard. Seeing her like this was just too much. I couldn't look at her for long. It was all too fucking much. I couldn't... I felt my eyes stinging from the tears that flowed unchecked. I felt as if hope itself died tonight.

Then I noticed my mother, still conscious in spite of Saitou's vicious backhand, was staring at something behind us, wide-eyed and astonished.

A gunshot rang out, deafening in the Takeda house parlor. Saitou's eyes widened in shock as he stumbled. A large bloody hole suddenly appeared on his forehead. There was another gunshot, and another. The bullets struck his throat, opening up his carotid artery and spilling blood freely, and his jaw, blasting a huge chunk of his face away.

Misaki and I whirled around simultaneously. A figure stepped out of the shadows in the hallway, a large-bore automatic pistol gripped in her hand. It didn't take us long to recognize the shooter.

“Star,” I gasped. To say I was surprised was a gigantic fucking understatement. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“My job, of course.” Star reached into the pocket of her jeans and drew out a folding knife, flicking the blade open. With this she freed my mother from her duct tape restraints and helped her stand.

“How much of that did you overhear?” Misaki demanded.

“Enough,” Star replied. She turned to my mother, a polite expression of concern on her usually stoic face. “Are you all right, Mrs. Ashley?”

Mama seemed to come to life at Star's mention of her name. She ignored the AEGIS agent, instead staring at the very dead Saitou for a long moment. I was afraid she'd start screaming out of the shock of seeing him messily shot to death right in front of her, but her eyes narrowed instead. She walked, shakily, over to Saitou's corpse and spat on him.

“Rot in hell for all of eternity, you vile piece of shit,” she snarled. Mama then turned to Star and offered a weak smile. “Thank you for saving us.”

“I didn't save you,” Star said, her voice stiff. “I used you.”

Mama gawked at Star but said nothing to her. She turned to me instead. “What do you know about all of this, Karin? Who is this woman? Who was that vile man? Why does Misaki have fox ears and a tail? How did you make a sword appear out of thin air?”

My mother threw her hands up in exasperation.

“Somebody please tell me what the hell is going on here?!”

act three

/

love

answers

“So we were the bait, too,” I mused, watching the curl of bluish smoke rise from my lit cigarette. Star sat across from me at the kitchen table, once again placed in the center of the dining room of the Takeda family home. Next to me, Misaki seemed to vacillate between admiration for AEGIS and Star and anger at being used, twice.

“AEGIS has been working to eliminate the Tsukimura clan for many years with only minimal success,” Star explained. “When your unique situation came to our attention, you provided a rare opportunity to draw them out into a place where they and their allies could be killed.”

I frowned and glanced at Misaki. Her expression was sullen. I couldn't blame her for being upset. I wasn't quite as upset as she was, but I was close. Granted, this probably had a lot to do with the fact that Star's presence meant there was a way out of this hell that didn't involve me having to kill myself and doom Misaki to a life of brutal enslavement.

“I suppose that explains why AEGIS was so generous with our retainer contract,” I put in, trying and failing not to make it sound like an accusation. Star, to her credit, was contrite and nodded once.

“We wished to bring you under our control, knowing that the Tsukimura clan would attempt to recover the Relic and thereby reveal the location of Lord Isao. To attract their attention more quickly, you were assigned cases where their involvement was suspected. I did not expect it to happen this quickly.”

“I should have seen it sooner.” I took a puff off my cigarette and sighed.

“Miss Ashley—”

“Call me Karin. I hate honorifics,” I interrupted, giving Star a cold glare. “Look, we've got way more important things to worry about than accusations and apologies. Mama has a fucking specter growing in her body! We have to do something about that!”

“Star, please, isn't there something we can do to help Yoshiko?”

I gawked at Misaki. It was the first time she'd spoken since Star called us to the table for a conference. Only an hour ago, Misaki and I gave my mother a somewhat abbreviated explanation of the events leading up until Saitou Tsukimura was killed. Mama took it surprisingly well, all things considered.

Misaki did her best to soothe my mother's wounds, but she was built for battle, for killing, not healing. Still, she did the best she could for Mama, placing her in a restorative deep sleep with her magic. It would suppress the miasma seed, slowing its growth, and help heal the minor injuries she sustained at Saitou's hands.

The sound of Star's voice brought me out of my thoughts. “I'm afraid there isn't anything we can do directly. The miasma seed is bound to Mrs. Ashley's spirit, drawing energy from her mana to fuel its own growth.”

My expression was grim. “Like the Relic.”

“Yes... the miasma seed cannot simply be removed. Unless Mrs. Ashley dies or the seed is destroyed at the source, a pestilence specter will grow within her and take possession of her body.”

“So there's nothing we can do?!” Misaki cried. “I—no! I don't believe it!”

“Calm down, Misaki,” Star urged. “We have options. Don't give in to despair; that will only aid House Tsukimura. The miasma seed was created by Lord Isao and is tied to his own miasma. The binding will be severed and the seed will disappear if he is defeated.”

My eyes widened as I processed Star's words. Miasma was a property of specters and only specters. For Isao Tsukimura to possess and manipulate miasma would imply that he was more—or maybe less, depending on how you looked at it—than human.

The explanation and theory Star presented made sense to me, but Misaki didn't accept the idea calmly at all. Her eyes widened in horror, her ears flattening and her tail curling between her legs as she shrank back from Star. I stared at her as I felt her pressing herself against me, clinging to my right arm.

“T-that's crazy,” Misaki gasped. “Insane. Lord Isao is incredibly powerful. You don't know what you're saying! You want us to—to fight him? If you can say what you just said then you know.”

“Yes, AEGIS is aware of this,” Star confirmed. “However, there are no other options. Under absolutely no circumstances can the Tsukimura clan be allowed to recover the True Relic. These are the orders I was given.”

The unspoken implication was clear. Star was ordered to ensure that the Relic did not fall into the hands of the enemy, regardless of any collateral damage and loss of life. She was taking a great risk in bending her orders slightly, allowing me to walk right into the dragon's lair in order to save my mother's life.

“Thank you, Star,” I murmured.

“I hope this will work out. I am taking a risk, yes, but I believe my superiors will agree with my decision, as it will result in a much more favorable outcome.”

I let out a clipped laugh. “So you're saying it's easier to beg forgiveness than ask for permission in the first place?”

Star grinned broadly. It was the first time I've ever seen her show any strong emotion. Though, to be fair, I'd only actually talked to Star face-to-face once, so there was that.

“Karin...”

I turned to Misaki and wasn't surprised to still see her looking very shaken. Just the mention of the Tsukimura head seemed to dim the fire that burned within her. I reached out and placed a hand on her cheek. It felt warm, as usual, but I could feel slight tremors running through her body.

“Misaki, there really isn't anything else we can do. Either I die and you go back to being their slave or Mama and So-yi die and they still keep coming after us. Or, we face them head-on and maybe we kill them. I know you're scared, love, but don't you remember what you told me about courage not too long ago?”

Misaki's lower lip trembled, but I saw the faintest hint of a smile forming. Her ears seemed to prick back up, just a little.

“O-of course I remember!”

I leaned forward and kissed her. She was pliant at first, but the touch of my lips seemed to rekindle the flame that burned within her. Misaki returned the kiss with most of her usual fierce passion. A moment later I drew back and was not surprised to see the color returned to her cheeks.

“Y-you always know how to make me feel better,” she murmured. “Okay. Okay, we can do this, right? We can fight. At least we'll know that we tried our best even if we fail.”

“You won't be fighting alone,” Star promised. “If you allow me to borrow the wardstone you obtained from Saitou Tsukimura, I will utilize my Spell Engine to create an emulation program that should allow others passage through their defensive barrier.”

I handed Star the piece of miasma-suffused stone. I was thankful to get rid of the thing, at least for a while. Just having it with me felt unpleasant. I didn't want to think about how it would feel for Misaki when she absorbed it in order to locate the Tsukimura shrine.

Star placed the wardstone in a small glass vial. “AEGIS has deployed twenty front-line hunters and their equipment to Kyoto for the operation. I can provide only minimal support to you and Misaki, however.”

“How did you—never mind, I don't even want to know.” I lit another cigarette and took a drink from my beer. It had long since gone warm, but I didn't care.

“The two of you need not worry about enemy reinforcements,” Star informed me. “We will be making coordinated simultaneous strikes against Tsukimura and their most powerful servant house, Morita. Without the two most powerful houses and their stabilizing influence, the remaining servant houses of Tsukimura will fall to infighting. AEGIS will watch and lie in wait, prepared to finish off the exhausted victors when the fighting ends.”

I covered my surprise with another swig of beer. “And you're going to manage all that with only eighteen operatives? Are you shitting me?”

Star smiled, her expression reflecting no small amount of pride. “This is not the first time we've completed such a mission. You know that we do not have the advantage in numbers, but we play for keeps.”

“Misaki, is there anything you can tell me about Lord Isao? Like, maybe, how we can kill him quickly and then go out for margaritas and a burrito?”

Misaki tried very hard not to smile at my lame attempt at humor. “I don't know very much about him. The everyday operations of House Tsukimura are operated by the patriarch's current eldest son—the Relic's previous wielder. Isao rarely visited the manor I was kept at. I think he spends most of his time at the shrine, projecting his consciousness into the astral world.”

“Just tell me what you know, even if it doesn't seem important,” I urged.

There was a haunted look in her eyes. “Lord Isao is one of the more powerful human summoners currently active today. His mortal spirit has been infused with miasma through an invocation that bound him permanently to a shackled specter, much in the same way we are connected. Through this bond, Isao gained a fragment of immortality and magic that can match that of a lesser spirit native to the astral world.”

“So what you're saying is that he's not really human anymore,” I reasoned.

Misaki nodded. “In a sense. All human practitioners can perform minor feats of arcana, but the unbolstered mind and body can only handle so much mana without breaking from the strain. Isao discovered a way to circumvent this restriction by defeating and enslaving a specter, imprisoning it within the fortress of his mind and forcing the spirit to act as an amplifier. The specter's individual will is destroyed and it fuses to the summoner's own soul.”

I could tell that even Star seemed to be very, very interested in this now. Her eyes were narrowed, her expression intrigued. Misaki might not have thought so, but perhaps in this history lesson was some key piece of information that could help us.

“What happened after he transcended his mortality?” Star inquired.

“The Tsukimura clan became powerful. Under Isao's leadership, the Tsukimura clan overthrew its sponsor house and became the strongest mystic organization in Japan, less than two years after the demise of the shogunate. The politics of the day played directly into Isao's hands. He allied himself with the new Meiji government, betrayed and deposed his former masters and became a powerful silent partner of the new regime.”

Star shook her head in disbelief. “How do you know all of this?”

“House Sakurai once wielded the Relic that I am bound to, and House Sakurai was the family that sponsored Tsukimura as a servant family. Sakurai was a wealthy but humble family of spirit hunters that held strong political and economic ties with the Tokugawa shogunate.”

“So Tsukimura, backed by the new government during the reform years, took out Sakurai and... what? Absorbed them?”

Misaki nodded. Her usually-swishing tail was still, indicating that she wasn't exactly fond of taking this trip down memory lane.

“In the end, it worked out for all but the heads of Sakurai. They were executed as traitors to the new Emperor and Isao was able to take full control of the house. At first, he kept up appearances, installing a puppet leader at the head of Sakurai and allowing them to keep their name and traditions. Over time, though, the house lost its identity and was absorbed into Tsukimura, further bolstering its strength.”

“And ever since then, he's been growing and festering underneath the surface, becoming more and more powerful.”

“Yes...” Misaki gave me a helpless look. “That's all I know. I have only met Lord Isao a handful of times since his clan took control of the Relic. It has always been wielded by one of his sons—the eldest living son of Tsukimura, to be exact.”

I lit another cigarette and turned to Star. “Clarify something for me.”

“If it is within my knowledge.”

“With only yourself and eighteen operatives, how is it even remotely fucking possible to take out an organization two centuries in the making with its tentacles in every damn source of power or influence in Japan?”

“The balance of power in House Tsukimura is incredibly top-heavy,” Star explained without even a moment of hesitation. “Lord Isao controls nearly every single aspect of the organization he commands.”

“That seems extremely stupid,” I muttered.

“He can't help it. The shackled specter colors his perceptions.” Misaki leaned over and reached into my pocket to pull out a half-eaten bag of sour candy. I fixed her with a mildly annoyed glare, but she ignored it and began snacking on the tangy treats.

“Miss Misaki is correct.” Star sipped at her glass of water and cleared her throat. “Isao is obsessed with control and trusts almost no one. He constantly subjects his subordinates to tests of loyalty and will never place any meaningful responsibility on anyone other than his sons, whom he controls subtly through his power.”

I let that sink in for a while. To me the actions of our enemy seemed almost insane in their stupidity and desperation. The more I thought about it, the more I suspected that the ancient head of the Tsukimura clan teetered on the edge of madness.

Maybe it was the strain of so much responsibility... or maybe it was the invocation that bound an evil spirit to his psyche. It was impossible to tell for sure, but one thing was abundantly clear: the chance event that resulted in the loss of the Relic, their greatest treasure, and to a woman no less, had driven them over the edge.

I smiled. Lord Isao's belief in his own supremacy, his belief in the inferiority of women, combined with his desperation and need to control, would most definitely give us the edge we needed to succeed.

“I have an idea.”

tactics

I woke up feeling more rested than I thought I would. I suspected that had a lot to do with the cute girl currently wrapped around me. Misaki was still asleep, though I knew once I started moving she would awaken. Her ears flicked a few times in her sleep and I stifled a chuckle as I noticed she'd been drooling. My right shoulder was soaked.

I slowly disentangled myself from her and sat up on the futon. Misaki stirred and opened one green eye, then the other. She wiped her mouth and yawned hugely, showing off her slightly prominent canine teeth.

“Good morning, cutie. You drooled all over my shoulder, by the way.”

Misaki blushed, her tail springing up to punctuate her embarrassment. I laughed and stood, wiping the remnants from my shoulder with a tissue before I started getting dressed. I'd set out sensible clothing choices for the both of us: leggings and lace-up boots with good ankle support and close-fitting tops that wouldn't restrict our movements or offer an enemy an easy handhold in a grapple.

I pulled on a sports bra and a fitted shirt before my favorite leather jacket. Misaki got up after a moment and started dressing herself. I'd been keeping my hair cut fairly short at just above chin-length, so there wasn't much I had to do other than run my fingers through it a bit and pat it down with a bit of water and mousse.

A quick glance in the mirror of the room's vanity told me I looked reasonably fresh for having bathed two nights ago. Misaki, on the other hand...

“My hair is a disaster,” she whined. It really was true. Her long, wavy locks of flowing red-tinged gold were matted and tangled.

“Get Mama to brush it out for you,” I suggested. “She'd probably even enjoy it.”

Misaki's expression brightened and she scampered into the front of the house. I could hear Mama's voice intermingled with Misaki's and smiled. I'd take my few minutes of solitude while I still had them.

I stepped out onto the porch and sat down on the bench, pulling a cigarette from my pocket. We still had a few of the milk coffees from the trip to Kyoto, just sitting on the porch outside, so I opened one and took a sip. It was almost as cold as if I'd just pulled it out of the fridge. I suppose that made sense.

I lit my smoke and puffed on it in silence, recalling the reactions Star and Misaki had to the plan I outlined last night. First the astonishment, then the disbelief, then the far more humorous reactions, especially from Star. After I explained the rationale behind my idea, Misaki was fully on board and seemed more determined than ever.

Star had been less impressed and demanded to alter certain parts of the plan. Her alterations made good sense and we all managed to agree on the insane, desperate strategy to confront the lord of the Tsukimura clan in his stronghold.

I took a long drag and blew smoke from between my lips. I knew this was going to be difficult. The chance that both Misaki and I would be walking away from this encounter in one piece was slim, but it was better than the alternative.

It was getting close to time to go. I stubbed out the smoke and stood up, walking back through the bedroom and into the front of the house. Misaki was sitting on one of the chairs at the kitchen table and my mother stood behind her, an ornate hairbrush in one hand. I could tell that she'd been pretty successful at taming Misaki's hair disaster.

“That feels really, really good, Yoshiko,” Misaki purred. Her tail, fully visible—there wasn't much point in hiding it from Mama anymore—was lashing back and forth and brushing against my mother's legs.

“It's supposed to,” Mama said as she brushed and gently worked out the knots and tangles with her fingers. Misaki let out a squeak of pain as a particularly tough tangle required more force, but she didn't seem to let it bother her.

“You've got such beautiful hair.” Mama set the brush down on the table and got both of her hands into Misaki's thick locks, trying her best to break up the chaotic masses of hair without breaking any strands.

Misaki was grinning pretty widely, likely more from the compliments than the actual work my mother was doing. I stood, leaning against the wall and drinking my milk coffee as Mama finished removing the tangles and started to massage Misaki's scalp.

“Mm, thank you so much! This is really nice! Karin isn't nearly this gentle at getting the knots out of my hair.”

“Not a surprise,” Mama grunted. “Karin's always been a rough-and-tumble girl, even when she was little. Especially when she was little.”

Misaki's ears twitched. “That's not true. Her hugs are really, really gentle and warm. And so are her kisses.”

“Nonsense. My eldest daughter's a lummox with two left feet. Don't ever ask her to dance if you value the bones in your toes.”

I gave the both of them a sour look. “You know, I am standing right here.”

“I wouldn't bother teasing you if you couldn't hear it,” my mother responded without missing a beat. She moved her hands, shifting from rubbing Misaki's scalp to scratching behind her large fox-like ears. They promptly laid down flat and forward and Misaki let out a slurred sound of obvious enjoyment.

“There, all done,” Mama said, stepping back from the chair and walking into the kitchen to wash her hands. Misaki stood up and walked over to stand next to me, leaning to kiss me on the cheek.

“What was that for?”

“Just because,” she said.

My eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Because what?”

“Because I love you.”

I felt my cheeks heating up, probably because Mama was now watching and Misaki was very obviously teasing me. The both of them were getting an awful lot of enjoyment at my expense this morning.

“Sit down, you two,” Mama commanded. “If I can't stop the two of you from doing something so dangerous, I'm going to do my part and make sure you get a good healthy breakfast.”

My mother came out of the kitchen bearing several serving dishes and pots, laying out a truly impressive spread that must've taken her a few hours to put together. I blinked in astonishment and stared at her.

“Mama, this isn't breakfast, it's a feast. You didn't have to—”

“Shut up, Karin. Of course I didn't have to. I wanted to, and besides, if you're going to go rushing headlong into a fight that has a good chance of getting the both of you killed, I don't want to be responsible for that because you weren't properly fed first.”

Misaki and I remained silent while my mother served our plates. Grilled fish and beef was accompanied by steamed white rice, small onigiri filled with smoked salmon, an assortment of stir-fried vegetables, a big bowl of well-fermented kimchi and several different selections of fresh fruit. We also got a small side bowl of miso soup to finish the meal off with.

It was a lot of food and Mama really loaded up my plate. I hoped I'd still be able to move well enough to fight after I ate all of this. I glanced at Misaki's plate and noticed that Mama had given her very little vegetables and three times as much meat as me.

“What's with her plate?”

“Oh, don't think I didn't see those teeth.” Mama waved her hand absently. “Misaki has the aspect of the fox within her. It only makes sense, yes?”

I rolled my eyes. Misaki didn't seem to mind at all. She was happily tearing into her grilled shortrib and mackerel, not even bothering with her utensils. Maybe Mama was right. There was definitely a wildness to the way Misaki ate whenever meat was involved.

I picked up my chopsticks and took a piece of shortrib with rice and kimchi. Unsurprisingly, it was delicious, the shortrib so tender it melted in my mouth. My mother was an excellent cook.

What was more surprising was how well Mama adjusted to the weirder aspects of my current job and Misaki's nature. I suppose she handled it a little better than I did; she had always been at least a little superstitious. My mother was properly a progressive Buddhist, but she always had a love for old legends of youkai and kami, spirits and gods.

That the supernatural actually existed seemed to make far more sense to Mama than it did to me. I'd always been well-grounded in science and the material world—though, to be fair, there was surely a consistent scientific explanation for all of this apparent magic and spirit stuff. After all, AEGIS managed to mimic this alleged magic with technology. If it could be broken down and reproduced that way, there had to be a scientific explanation and couldn't properly be called supernatural.

Mama had been happy when she learned that I'd fallen in love with Misaki. Now that she knew the whole truth, she seemed even happier, likely convinced that a romance between a spirit and a human was a sign of great prosperity to come.

Or maybe she was just happy we told her everything instead of just letting Star wipe her memory. I shuddered at the thought. Misaki used such techniques multiple times during our work, but I definitely didn't want to think about it being used on Mama.

Instead, Star settled for Mama's signature on a nondisclosure agreement. I didn't like the ominous terms of the agreement at all, but it was still better than the alternative.

“This is really good,” Misaki stated as she devoured a hunk of mackerel, ignoring the bones as if they weren't even there.

Mama fairly beamed. “Thank you! You're so well-mannered, Misaki. Unlike certain other girls at this table.”

“I see how it is,” I grumbled. I picked up the last bite of my shortrib and rice, then turned my attention to the miso soup. I sipped at the salty, savory broth and felt a pressing need to loosen my belt, except I wasn't actually wearing one.

I turned to Misaki, my dour expression fading and becoming more serious. “Star will be coming back with the wardstone soon. We should make sure we're ready to go as soon as she gets back.”

“I'm not looking forward to absorbing it,” Misaki muttered.

“We don't really have a choice.”

I pushed my chair back and stood up. Mama and I cleared the table away and cleaned up the dishes. Misaki took the leash off the wall and wrangled Kaede to take her for a quick walk while we tidied up.

When I was alone with my mother, she turned to me and gave me a look that defied description.

“Karin, I've been thinking.”

Unable to resist the temptation, I fired off my own barb. “Oh? You can do that now?”

“Shut up, dear. Yes, I was thinking about the future. Father and Mother are... well, you know the situation. They're old and they're dying. There's nothing anyone can do about it at this point. Their caretaker called me this morning. Mother's come down with pneumonia and they don't expect her to recover. She has maybe another week or two, at most.”

I didn't know how to feel about that. We both knew that I wasn't especially close with my grandparents, but they were still part of my family. What I didn't expect was what Mama said after that.

“It won't be long before they both leave this world,” she continued. “When they're gone, there will be no more reason for me to stay in Osaka. I've been planning to move back to America, to be closer to my daughters.”

“Especially since So-yi's going to be a mother soon, right?”

My mother didn't miss the jealousy I couldn't quite keep out of my tone. “Stop that, Karin. Yes, part of it is because your sister will be having a baby to care for soon. I can help her with that—I want to help her with that.”

“But that's not all of it?”

“Karin, I know you seem to think I consider you a failure. You aren't and you shouldn't assume things about your mother like that. I didn't come back to Japan, to the Takeda house just for fun. I came back to care for my parents during their final days. That task is nearly complete.”

I frowned. “What about your job? Will you be able to transfer back to the States?”

“Oh, that's not a problem.” My mother waved her hand dismissively as she stacked plates and glasses in the cabinets. “I'm going to be retiring. I've already put in my paperwork and given notice.”

“Giving up babysitting corporate drones for changing your grandchild's diapers?”

“A trade I would make without a moment's hesitation,” Mama said with a grin.

Before I could respond to that, a Caucasian man dressed in casual clothing walked into the kitchen. I knew it was one of the two AEGIS hunters assigned to protect the house; he wore an inactive Spell Engine on his left hand.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Ashley, but I need to speak with your daughter in private, if you don't mind.”

“Back to work, it seems,” I said, favoring Mama with a wry grin.

Mama shooed us away. “All right, out with the both of you!”

I followed the hunter—I think his name was Malcolm, or something like that—back into the study, set off from the rest of the living room and kitchen area, where we could not easily be overheard.

“Star will be returning shortly,” he informed me. “Are you and Miss Misaki prepared for your part in the operation?”

“We are—well, we will be when she gets back from walking the dog. You're... Malcolm, right?”

“Yes, ma'am. Star's orders are that I and my partner, Renne, will accompany you to the Tsukimura ancestral shrine. Our assistance should give you and Miss Misaki a considerable advantage in the battle.”

“Oh?”

“Renne and I are trained as snipers,” Malcolm clarified. “Our Spell Engines have been programmed with the scans made of the wardstone you obtained from Saitou Tsukimura. We will set up some distance away and remain hidden to provide fire support.”

I didn't even want to know how they managed to get high-powered military sniper rifles into Japan.

“Good. We can work with that. You'll be using MQ rounds?”

“Yes, though we will prioritize secondary targets over assisting with the battle against Lord Isao directly. Star believes that you and Miss Misaki will have a considerably higher chance of success if we eliminate any specters he attempts to summon during the fight.”

“Understood.” I reached into my pocket and took out a cigarette. “Don't open fire until we've actually engaged Isao or unless the shit hits the fan. I'm sure we can trust your judgment on this.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Malcolm said.

The front door opened and Misaki returned with Kaede. I glanced over through the foyer and noticed Star was walking in behind them. Misaki took my mother's dog off the leash and hung it back up before we gathered together.

Star reached into her pocket and took out the wardstone, handing it to Misaki. Her face twisted in disgust, but she knew what she had to do. With her right hand she traced a runic sigil in the air and the wardstone dissolved into a cloud of miasma that was drawn into the glowing rune. The drained pebble disintegrated into a pile of fine grayish-white dust that Misaki quickly brushed away.

“You're looking a little pale,” I observed, my voice holding a touch of worry.

Misaki's disgusted expression intensified. “It's like drinking spoiled milk. Ugh, I never want to do that again.” Her face regained its lost color after a moment, though, and she grabbed the cigarette from my hand and lit it with a tiny spell-flame. She took a deep draw off it and sighed in relief.

“I was going to smoke that.”

“You've got more,” she reminded me.

Star cleared her throat. “Excuse me, but let's stay focused on the task at hand. Can you feel the location of the Tsukimura ancestral shrine?”

Misaki nodded and let out a puff of smoke. “Yes. It's in Kyoto, but also... not.”

“What does that even mean?” I demanded. Misaki gave me a dirty look and closed her eyes, focusing on the spell that was contained within.

“It means the shrine is there, but it's hidden with magic, shifted slightly out of phase with our physical reality. The place is protected by a very old and very powerful warding field. Without the spell contained inside the wardstone, anyone who entered would suffer a permanent and debilitating mental shock.”

“So once we're in, we're on our own,” I muttered.

“Yes. Lord Isao is waiting for us there. I doubt he expects us to oppose him in such a direct manner, but know this: he is powerful. With the specter's essence fused to his soul, he can draw mana from its miasmic core. His capacity is almost limitless.”

I took the cigarette back from Misaki. “I still think my plan's got a pretty good chance of working. We know he's become unstable and the loss of the Relic has made him even more unstable. If we can unhinge him even further, we'll have the advantage of sound and rational tactics and I'll take those over raw, unfocused power any day of the week.”

Star nodded, though she still looked a little nervous. That was okay, really—I mean, I might have looked confident right now but I was scared shitless. This would easily be the most difficult thing I've ever done in my entire life.

“We each know our tasks,” Star said. “I'm calling for a start to the mission. My teams are already in place; I will coordinate the raids on the allied locations as soon as you enter the shrine grounds.”

“Misaki and I are heading out now,” I told her.

“We'll signal you when we arrive at the shrine,” Misaki added.

Star took a steadying breath.

“Good luck.”

encounter

“This is it. The shrine is here.”

I gave Misaki a dubious look. All I could see was an empty field of well-maintained local grasses. Whatever she saw, I couldn't see, but I knew the shrine's defensive wards meant that I would not. That the ancestral shrine was on the expansive grounds of the Tsukimura manor, hidden in plain sight, was not a surprise to either of us. I was a little surprised that it would be hidden in an empty field so far from the manor house, though I suppose that was just another security measure.

The manor appeared abandoned; no servants walked about outside the palatial home, no groundskeepers tended the ornate gardens and decorative landscape features. Our arrival was expected and our “host” more than likely sent everyone away so that there would be no interference.

Misaki closed her eyes and sank into an invocation, her hands spreading wide as motes of light and power began to materialize around her. It was a powerful seeking spell that would reveal things hidden through magical means, bolstered by the key contained within the wardstone she'd absorbed.

My vision began to blur and waver. The wide-open field seemed to fade in and out of existence. A moment later, I began to catch split-second glimpses of a small but well-maintained shrine. The power of Misaki's invocation swept through us both and I was plunged into a world of black emptiness. The emptiness was so complete, so all-consuming that I knew I'd start to hallucinate, my mind trying to fill in the gaps in the fabric of reality, but the disorienting moment passed as the space around us was brought back into phase with the physical world.

The shrine I'd seen moments before was no longer a ghostly afterimage. It was small but ornate, decorated with precious jewels and gold-leaf inlay. It didn't resemble any Shinto or Buddhist shrine I'd ever seen before. In fact, the characters etched across much of the shrine's exterior were very obviously not Chinese characters, but bold and unfamiliar runic markings that seemed to exude sharp menace.

“It is a shrine to a god-spirit that crossed the boundary between worlds thousands of years ago,” Misaki whispered, answering my unspoken question. “The runic inscriptions are written in an ancient language of spirits, poetic verses that tell of the glory and power of the god-spirit.”

The two of us stood near the shrine, waiting. Several minutes passed, the air still, without any movement. I strongly suspected that Isao Tsukimura was toying with us, fucking with our minds and amplifying our anxieties. I glanced at Misaki. Her tail was still and her ears laid flat and back against her head, signifying her agitation.

“Let's provoke a response. Destroy the shrine.”

Misaki nodded and spell-flame flowed, engulfing her hands with brilliant orange-red light. She gathered raw elemental power and shaped it into an explosive mote of destruction, preparing to launch the deadly projectile at the shrine. The lacquered wood and paper construction guaranteed Misaki's supernaturally-hot flames would reduce it to ashes within minutes.

A withered old man appeared, materializing in the still air from somewhere else. He motioned with his palsied fingertips and held out his hands. Misaki's mote of flame slammed into those hands as if it had struck an impenetrable wall. The glowing ball of magical fire, suspended in midair before the old man, pulsed and vibrated, shrinking steadily until it fizzled out.

“There is no need for such vandalism,” the old man snapped in a surprisingly rich and powerful voice. This man—Lord Isao Tsukimura—was crooked and bent, appearing to be in his late nineties, but I already knew his true age was well over two hundred. His decrepit appearance was oddly matched to a voice that held the strength and vitality of youth.

No, not the vitality of youth, but the dark power of miasma. The voice seemed to echo and resonate within itself, lending it an inhuman quality that set my skin crawling. I glanced at Misaki and our eyes met. We were both committed—there was no turning back now.

“Lord Isao Tsukimura, I presume,” I said by way of greeting.

“Karin Ashley. The mongrel whore who stole the treasure of the Tsukimura.” Isao snorted and gestured to the ancestral shrine. “I am not surprised someone as uncivilized and of poor breeding as you would attempt to destroy something of such antiquity.”

Isao stepped up onto the shrine's steps and looked down on us, imperiously, despite the fact that both Misaki and I were taller. I ignored his verbal jabs, instead consoling myself with the thought that soon I would be returning those jabs with interest.

The lord of House Tsukimura turned his gaze on Misaki. Isao's dead black eyes bored into Misaki's, but she did not back down, nor did she bow before him. Her ears did not droop and her tail did not curl between her legs. She stood firm and strong and straight-backed, returning the summoner's glare with equal force. The Tsukimura head's sneer was filled with contempt and disgust.

“You have taught this dog some very bad habits, mongrel.” Isao stared at me, ignoring Misaki completely. “It is only the most minor of your transgressions against my clan. But that is of little consequence; we are to make a deal today.”

My expression was filled with contempt of my own. “So I've heard.”

“My son delivered to you my demands: for your life and the Relic, I will release your mother from her inevitable torment and House Tsukimura will forever forswear vengeance against your family and allies.”

“That's what I was told,” I agreed.

“Then make your offering, woman. Kneel, and take your own life. Return our rightful property to House Tsukimura.”

“Actually, I had a counteroffer.”

Isao's yellowed eyes narrowed suspiciously. “My terms are not negotiable.”

“Oh, I'm sure you'll like this idea,” I retorted, somehow managing to keep a small and amused smile on my face. My heart was pounding like a jackhammer. I felt hopelessly transparent, but the old summoner didn't seem to notice. I pushed on through.

“You see, I don't think I want to kill myself. In fact, I want very much to keep on living. So does Misaki. We both want to keep on living, together, for as many days, weeks, months and years as our fates will allow.”

Isao's glower intensified. “There are no other options. Submit, relinquish the blade, or I will destroy everything you have ever held dear in your brief and meaningless existence.”

“No,” I repeated, firmly. “I don't think I will.”

“You are trying my patience,” Isao snapped. “If you refuse me, I will kill them while you and the dog are forced to watch. You will witness every agonizing moment of their suffering.”

“Actually,” Misaki chimed in, “we were thinking of just killing you instead. We apologize, but our terms are not negotiable, either.”

I took a step back; Misaki shot off to the right. We had absolutely no intention of giving him a fair fight—we were going to start this off by stacking the deck in our favor as much as possible. I reached under my jacket, drawing the huge pistol that Star had loaned to me before we left Osaka. It was a big, heavy weapon, a bull-barreled revolver loaded with huge 14mm high-concentration MQ slugs.

“You expect to harm me with that?” Isao cackled.

I settled into a sharpshooter's stance and brought up the pistol, lining up the sights and squeezing off a shot. The old man didn't even try to dodge or deflect the slug, fully trusting in his defenses to plainly illustrate just how hopeless my situation was.

My wrists ached from the single shot, but I ignored the pain. The custom revolver had one hell of a kick. AEGIS had hot-loaded the cartridges to achieve rifle-like muzzle energy, cramming as much firepower into a hand-held weapon as was possible, even with their current limited equipment and facilities.

Isao took the bullet directly in the center of mass. His superior smirk seemed to falter as he realized that he'd been hit with something quite different than he anticipated. Miasma currents roiled around his body as the malformed quintessence doped into the lead of the bullet started to tangle the miasmic flows.

Misaki concentrated a mote of spell-flame and launched the fireball directly at him. It was small, but the MQ bullet weakened his defenses enough that the mystic projectile struck him and exploded.

“Such outbursts are extremely ill-advised,” Isao growled as he parted the flames, leaving him mostly intact save for a slight scorch mark on his yukata. “You are delusional if you believe you can defeat me in combat. I hereby retract my offer of mercy. I will enjoy this, Karin Ashley, and when I am finished killing you slowly, I will visit the same fate upon those you love.”

“No, you won't.” I smiled smugly and kept the weapon trained on him. “If you cast a spell, I will shoot again. These bullets contain malformed quintessence at extremely high concentrations.”

Isao actually laughed out loud. “You have allowed yourself to be bought by AEGIS? You understand nothing, mongrel whore!”

Misaki threw up a golden-shimmering barrier of force a split-second after Isao began to cast his own offensive magic. His fingers flashed, too quickly for the eye to follow, and the air was filled with glowing blades that spun and whirled as they flew unerringly at their target—me.

The glowing blades slammed into Misaki's shield and rebounded, some careening end-over-end and striking Isao's miasmic barrier. I hissed in frustration and fired again, but Isao laughed as the MQ bullet destroyed his barrier. His fingers twitched and again he was shrouded in whirling plumes of miasma.

The revolver's bullets were so large it could only hold six shots—well, four now—but I had two more reloads in speed loaders kept in my jacket's inside pocket.

“Misaki, suppression fire!”

Misaki's spell-flame instantly modified itself, responding to the force of her will. It reformed into countless tiny marbles of explosive force, streaking through the still air of the shrine clearing to slam into Isao one right after the other. The little spheres weren't doing enough damage to actually hurt him, but they were keeping him off balance long enough for me to line up another shot.

This time I fired twice, one right after the other, as quick as the revolver's tremendous recoil would let me. The first shot impacted on his miasmic barrier and ripped it asunder, allowing the second one to plow through his shoulder. A great gush of dark blood, mingled with bits of pulverized flesh and bone, burst from his ruined shoulder and I instantly knew the hit had been a very good one.

Isao roared in agony and hatred. A black flash heralded the miasma blast that he'd just hurled at me, but Misaki's shield intercepted it. Corruption made physical expanded into a cloud of choking miasma, overwhelming and destroying the shimmering shield.

I allowed myself a smile. I'd hit him directly with an MQ bullet. The more magic he used now, the more it would feed back into his own body and eat away at it. I didn't think for a minute that this would in any way end the battle, but it would hinder him, slow him down a bit and maybe give us a bit of an advantage.

Isao apparently realized this as well. He stepped back, expending precious energy to swat down the spell-flame Misaki continued to throw, and started to invoke a summoning and raise the odds in his favor.

“He's summoning backup!” I warned. Misaki nodded silently and began her own spell. I recognized the runic tracings she made in the air and knew what was coming next. My body began to feel lighter than usual as the enchantment of flight stole over me.

Misaki shot up into the air with dizzying speed. I used my new-found powers of flight to retreat, shooting backward as if yanked by an invisible cord. Flames erupted from the ground as Misaki launched a withering barrage of explosive projectiles.

Lord Isao cackled, unharmed, as the fires parted before him. “You will have to do much better than that to defeat me!”

His fist closed around a black-purple crawling sphere of miasma as he completed the summoning. The malformed quintessence in his body short-circuited the channeling and some of the mana was lost in the form of heat. Smoldering black blood leaked from his ruined shoulder, but he ignored the pain. The miasma began to coalesce, gathering into two distinct forms as the specters were anchored to the physical world.

The specters emerged and began to attack immediately. In the bright light of day I could see the thousand-eyes clearly, their bodies covered in blinking, slime-covered eyes of all shapes and sizes. A storm of dark bolts shot from the glowing eyes studding their outstretched palms.

I shot upward, attempting to use Misaki's flight spell to dodge the attack, but Isao's lips split in a demonic grin as he quickly dispelled the magic that enshrouded me. I was more than three meters off the ground when gravity reasserted its hold on my body.

“Karin!” Misaki cried, dropping into a swooping dive, but there was no way she could get to me in time. I fell and landed hard, my left foot hitting the ground at a bad angle. There was a sickening crack of the bone above my ankle giving way. Waves of agonizing pain shot up my leg as I tried to keep standing.

Black arcs of sinister lightning shot from Isao's outstretched hand and struck me directly in the chest. The pain in my broken leg was a whisper compared to the blinding, mind-shattering torment that pulsed through my body. I felt my muscles seize up and contract uncontrollably.

I tasted blood in my mouth. I must've bit my tongue as I fell. I was on my back, the burning in my lungs a sure sign that I'd been blasted off my feet with enough force to knock the wind out of me. Realizing I lost my grip on the revolver, I tried to move, to get the weapon back, but it was more than two meters away and I couldn't reach it, couldn't crawl toward it.

With a flash of brilliant red, Misaki's dive dropped her from the sky and she placed herself between me and Isao. The specters circled around her, dodging her hastily-aimed motes of spell-flame with contemptuous ease. They ignored her, knowing full well that she could not banish them before it was too late. Their eyes all focused on me as they closed in for the kill.

“Fire now!” Misaki shouted.

The distant thunderclap report of a pair of 7.62mm sniper rifles rolled over me. I willed my eyes open and watched, elated, as the hideous eye-covered heads of each specter exploded in a shower of gore. The headless bodies began to rapidly dissolve into miasma clouds as their corporeal projections were destroyed, severing the power that anchored them to our world. Isao's sneer melted into an expression of incredulity, but he quickly put two and two together. His eyes narrowed as he glared at me.

“AEGIS,” he hissed in frustration. “It appears my son was careless. No matter; their presence will not change the outcome of this battle.”

I opened my mouth to offer an angry retort, but all that came out of my mouth was a groan and a trickle of blood. I'd apparently bitten my tongue at some point, but I could barely distinguish one injury from another. The pain in my broken leg was beyond fucking excruciating. I could feel the darkness of unconsciousness start to nibble around the edges of my vision.

No. I wouldn't pass out. Fuck that! We weren't going to die here today.

Isao let out a derisive sound that was somewhere between a snort and a wheeze. “The torment you have experienced is only the beginning, mongrel bitch! You will beg for release when I am through with—”

Flames erupted around his body, absorbed by the whirling barrier of miasma. Isao halted mid-sentence and glared at Misaki. She sidestepped and traced an intricate runic pattern in the air. A torrent of enchanted iron needles, each over ten centimeters in length, streaked down from the sky and slammed into the ancient lord's body. The projectiles' pale glow faded as they struck their target.

Isao roared in pain but maintained razor-sharp focus as he traced a series of runes in the air. The conjured needles dispersed into fading motes of mana. Isao's withered fingers inscribed another spell, but Misaki's magic was faster. A defensive barrier materialized between Isao and Misaki. The shimmering gold field of light intercepted the spinning blade of coalesced miasma and dispersed it into nothingness.

I knew he wouldn't try to summon any more specters. Even for someone as powerful as he, summoning took considerable amounts of energy. The MQ slug was still lodged in his shoulder and despite all of his bluster, the wound was slowing him down, causing him pain every time he cast a spell. If I could just get to the revolver—

Misaki traced blazing lines in the air. A sweeping burst of vitality began to flow into my body, soothing the pain and bringing back control over my muscles. I groaned in pain as I started trying to move again. There wasn't much that could be done about my broken leg, but at least I could crawl again. I managed to make it just over a meter before an explosion of pain went off in my mangled left leg.

Fuck. The revolver was just out of reach!

“Fire now!” Misaki cried.

Malcolm and Renne responded with another pair of shots, this time aimed at Lord Isao directly. The sheer knockdown power of the 7.62mm rounds should have blasted a man of Isao's condition off his feet, but the magic and miasma that flowed through his body strengthened him far beyond mortal limits.

Changing tactics on the fly, Misaki channeled a new spell, bringing out her own blade in the form of a frozen plume of fire. Intense heat radiated from the blade and yet it seemed to be made of red-gold tinted ice or crystal. She had the right idea—even with the gains we'd made, Isao would inevitably win if we allowed the battle to be a duel of spells.

“You will not enslave me again,” Misaki snarled as she darted forward, still riding on the last vestiges of her flight spell. She slashed again and again at Isao, but the lord summoner parried and blocked with miasmic currents shaped into blades.

“You are a thing, a weapon, and you belong to me!” Isao roared as he conjured up a ball of tainted green-black sludge. The sphere burst and spewed vitriolic foulness evenly across a two-meter radius. I was outside of the spell's blast, but Misaki was not.

The sludge clung to her and began to smoke and fizzle as it ate away at her body. She shrieked in pain and nearly dropped her conjured sword, but managed to maintain her charge and slashed at him repeatedly. The blade struck flesh and bone and melted through it, but Isao only cackled at her as the strikes triggered a potent magical defense.

Black-purple energy detonated around him. The dark power enveloped Misaki's body, shattered her blade of frozen fire and sending her flying through the air to crash heavily no more than a meter away. Despite the intensity of the blast, Misaki managed to get to her feet and retaliate, a huge jet of spell-flame shooting from her right hand and striking Isao directly in the chest.

The lord of the Tsukimura grunted in pain and backpedaled, quickly inscribing a spell into the air as he struggled to rebuild his defenses. Malcolm and Renne, safely hidden more than fifty meters away, began to open fire freely, taking shot after shot as quickly as their weapons would allow.

Isao's crazed laughter seemed to grow unnaturally loud as he managed to deflect the shots over and over, simply re-materializing his miasma barrier each time the MQ bullets destabilized it. I could tell that the two AEGIS hunters were staggering their shots to try and slip a round through his defenses, but it was no use. The lord of Tsukimura only drew deeper and more rapidly upon his miasma.

“Misaki,” I gasped, “the gun. Throw me the gun.”

She nodded and scrambled to retrieve the weapon, but Isao was perfectly capable of multitasking. I cursed the circumstances and our planning. The original tactical plan assumed the worst-case scenario: that Lord Isao would abstain from direct involvement and would repeatedly summon specters to do his fighting for him.

Well. That misconception was well and thoroughly fucking shattered. It could have been a lot worse, sure, if dozens of specters were running around the battlefield, but this was definitely bad. The Tsukimura head shrugged off the high-powered rounds, the slow cycle of the bolt-action sniper rifles ensuring they only ever struck his shield. I was starting to wonder if there was a limit to how many times he could bring the damn thing back, desperately wishing the AEGIS hunters were equipped with something that could fire in full-auto.

The sickening smell of burned flesh filled the air as more smoke poured from the wound in Isao's shoulder. The MQ bullet still stuck in his shoulder was doing its job, acting as a resistor, reducing his power output and converting that excess energy into heat. Isao roared in rage and pain and his fingers inscribed the rune for a terrible offensive magic, an annihilating sphere of pure miasma that would simply disintegrate anything it touched.

“Karin! Catch!”

The revolver spun end-over-end as Misaki threw it to me. I contorted my body and managed to get my good leg under me long enough to—well, not quite catch the gun, but I got close enough to it to get my hands back on it.

I aimed and pulled the trigger.

ouroboros

The gun bucked in my hands and I almost dropped it. My grip was weak and shaky; the healing magic Misaki used was not very strong and I was still in a lot of pain. The endorphins were starting to flow right along with the adrenaline, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep up the fight too much longer.

Isao cackled, his voice thick with contempt. “Your injuries seem to have worsened your aim for you to miss at such close range!” That horrible laughter came again, filled with ancient, haughty contempt. He brandished the disintegrating sphere that hovered above his right hand.

“I wasn't aiming at you, asshole,” I growled.

I think he realized his error only a split-second before all hell broke loose.

The annihilation sphere started to vibrate, oscillating and pulsing erratically. Isao's sneer of contempt melted away as his eyes widened in astonishment. The sphere's outer boundaries began to destabilize, creeping outward, slowly at first, but much more rapidly as the malformed quintessence began to distort the mana sustaining the sphere and fed it back into itself.

Isao screamed in wordless horror as the sinister magic shattered and blew apart. Isao's body was caught in the shock wave as it expanded out, blasting his body back with the force of a bomb. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself for the pain that I knew was about to come.

It never did.

I opened my eyes and realized that Misaki was standing next to me. A shimmering protective dome of golden light shielded the both of us from the botched spell. I blinked my eyes, trying to clear the sweat and blood from them. Apparently I had a pretty bad cut on my forehead, probably from some flying piece of debris.

At this point I'm sure I had far more wounds than I could actually feel. Misaki bent down next to me and wrapped my left arm over her neck and shoulders, dragging me to my feet. Bright flashes of agony burst behind my eyes as I inevitably put some weight on my broken leg.

“Hang on, Karin,” she implored. “We're not out of danger yet. Isao still lives.”

Misaki and I managed to limp to where Isao's body lay. She was right; he was still alive, but only just barely. The MQ bullet I'd fired caused the sphere of annihilation to fail before it had completely formed. All of the energy he'd poured into the magic could no longer be contained and had exploded.

His clothes were torn to shreds—no, it was much worse than that. His skin had split and cracked in multiple places. Miasma-tainted blood, oily and black, oozed from fissures and lacerations. His right arm had been completely destroyed. The flesh hung in gruesome ribbons smeared with dark blood, jagged shards of white bone visible beneath.

Isao's eyes flew open.

“You... do you... realize what you've... done...”

“Yeah, I do,” I snapped. I held the revolver in my right hand, gripping it tightly enough that my knuckles went completely white. Misaki helped me stagger closer until the both of us were less than a meter from the mortally wounded Isao. I kept the revolver aimed at his forehead, ready to blow his brains out if he so much as breathed too hard.

For the first time, Isao turned a gaze on Misaki that didn't hold complete and utter contempt for her. Instead, his eyes were wide with bafflement.

“Why...”

Misaki glared at him. “Why what?”

“Why... would you fight to protect this dog,” Isao wheezed. He was looking at me now, steadily, but beneath the pain in his face, his expression was one of confusion. He coughed wetly and black blood dripped from lips contorted in agonizing pain.

“Why... would you risk so much... oppose me, the Tsukimura... for a weapon... for the Relic? Why... why risk... family?”

I dropped the revolver on the ground and materialized the sword in my right hand. The weight felt reassuring, somehow comforting. The edge of the Relic's blade activated as it sensed the miasmic core of a specter within Isao's broken body. The fine razor line of the sword's steel edge heated steadily until it glowed white-hot.

“I didn't,” I replied.

“I... don't—don't understand—” The rest of his sentence was lost to a series of rattling coughs. Misaki and I looked at each other for a moment, then back at the fallen lord of the House Tsukimura.

“Of course you don't understand,” Misaki said, her voice calm and cool. “You lost what little remained of your humanity when you took in the essence of a specter. You gave up your soul in exchange for power.”

Isao stared at Misaki with wide eyes, but said nothing.

“I didn't risk my life for the damn sword,” I explained, trying as best I could to keep my voice as even as possible despite the pain I was in. “I risked my life for Misaki—because I love her. Because she's family, too.”

The lord of House Tsukimura cackled, despite the fact that he was only mere minutes away from death's door. There was contempt in his laugh, an ancient haughtiness toward those he believed his lessers. It was filled with hate and bitterness.

Misaki stared down at the dying man. “She risked her life so that I could be free, so that I can be a person like any other. Karin risked her life so that we could be free. Free to live, and free to love each other.”

“So... you risked... everything... for a dog,” Isao wheezed, the venom in his voice fading as quickly as his strength. He started to laugh again, but each laugh brought him more pain. Even I could tell that his injuries were beyond repair. There was no way the regenerative properties of the miasma he controlled could save him.

“Finish... it,” he gasped. “Take your... victory.”

I turned my head toward Misaki and gazed into her eyes. Her ears flicked and she nodded. I turned back to Lord Isao, the sword gripped tightly in my right hand and swung downward with as much strength as my injuries would allow. The Relic's superheated edge cut through bone and flesh as if it were tissue paper.

There was a hiss and a flash of black corruption. The stench of burned flesh reached my nostrils as I watched the two halves of the implanted miasmic core emerge and split apart, slowly fading away into a dull gray ash.

Isao's serene expression was gone, replaced by one of horror as he realized that I was not going to grant his final wish. I whipped the sword around in a flourish and released it with my will. The blessed longsword vanished as if it had never been.

“NO!” Isao gasped, a wide rivulet of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. “Finish your strike... I have been defeated.”

I glared at the ruined almost-corpse, half-shrouded and obscured by the grass of the shrine clearing. The blood running from his body was no longer oily and black, no longer tainted by the presence of miasma. For the first time in almost two centuries, Isao Tsukimura was fully human... and mortal.

My answer was short and to the point.

“No.”

“Kill me!” Isao raged, his weakening voice tinged with a rising note of terror. “You defeated me in battle. Don't... don't... the pain!”

I gave him a look of intense disgust that I usually reserve for use on politicians, date rapists and con artists who bilk old ladies out of their life savings. Misaki seemed to agree with me, her ears laying flat and back, tail lashing, her small fangs visible as she bared them in a fierce snarl.

“You don't get the easy way out,” I ground out, fighting a fresh wave of pain and nausea that threatened to send me into unconsciousness.

Misaki shifted, struggling to keep me upright, and turned to face me. I ignored the coughs and wheezes of the dying Tsukimura, my attention fully and completely captivated by large, liquid green eyes. My body was at its limit; I could feel my mind start to slip away into darkness.

Then she kissed me.

Motes of shimmering light gathered around Misaki's body as she strengthened the bond between us. Through the kiss, she drew in a tremendous amount of loose mana liberated by Isao's repeated invocations. I felt a tingle that built into a high-current shock, but I felt no pain. Misaki's invocation continued to build in power as she drew more mana through me, using my body to amplify the cleansing magic. I could feel no pain; Misaki's invocation shielded me from the burning mana as the kiss went endlessly on.

I couldn't keep my eyes open. Misaki's lips pressed against mine, fierce and wild. She supported my battered body with her gentle strength. I had no energy left, but I borrowed hers. I let my eyes close, allowing myself to be drawn in deeper. The kiss we shared was woven into the invocation that began to flow outward from our bodies. The motes of light and magic flared like miniature stars as a brilliant white glow bloomed and encompassed the Tsukimura ancestral shrine.

With my eyes closed I couldn't see, but I knew what was happening. I felt the magic unraveling around us through Misaki's power. In my mind I watched as golden light burst forth and enveloped the shrine itself. The fell magic that created this place was unwoven, deconstructed, sublimating from physical manifestation directly to raw and unformed mana that Misaki drew in through the Relic and through me.

Some time later, Misaki drew away and I opened my eyes. She wore her usual faint and dangerous smile. I couldn't help but smile back—at least until I forgot myself for a moment and tried putting weight on my broken leg. Bad, bad idea.

“I'm sorry I couldn't do more.” Misaki's voice was apologetic.

I didn't respond to her. I was too busy simultaneously being amazed and in a great deal of pain. I did my best to shove the pain into a box inside my mind, because there were far more interesting things going on than my broken leg. I couldn't even see the tiniest trace that the Tsukimura ancestral shrine had ever existed. We stood in the same empty field we found when we arrived.

“The shrine?”

Misaki's ears twitched. “The entire area was formed from miasma manifesting into a sort of magical emulation of physical matter. The cleansing invocation unbound the miasma and the constructs formed of it ceased to exist.”

I hobbled over to where Isao's body lay and was astonished for a second time.

“He's still alive,” I marveled.

Misaki shook her head. “His body lives, but his mind was lost when you destroyed the miasmic core within his body. The invocation he performed to augment his own mind with the specter he summoned bound them together, just as you are bound to the Relic. When you destroyed the core, his mind began to deteriorate rapidly.”

I turned away. I didn't want to look at him any longer. I was starting to feel sick as I looked at the mangled body knowing it was still alive without a mind, the heart still beating, the organs damaged but still functioning.

“We'll take it from here, Karin, Misaki.”

I turned toward the familiar voice. Star walked through the clearing, outfitted for battle in tactical black nylon. She looked exhausted and worn. A deep gash on her forehead was hastily stitched together, blood seeping into the cotton gauze underneath the tape. Her left arm was covered in tacky half-dried blood.

Star took one look at my leg, which was currently bent at a rather unnatural angle, and immediately reached into one of her pouches and withdrew a small hypodermic needle. She pulled the cap with her teeth and bent down, jabbing the needle into my leg and depressing the plunger.

“What are you—fucking hell!” I gasped in pain as the drug was injected, my heart leaping into my throat, but then I felt the most wonderful numbness start to settle over my broken leg. The pain was already dulling, mere seconds after administration.

“That should take care of the pain until you can get treatment,” Star informed me. I glared at her with more anger than I actually felt.

“Next time you're going to shove a needle into my bleeding, bruised and, oh yeah, fractured leg, please give me ample warning ahead of time.”

My boss's lips spread into an evil grin. “I can bring the pain back, if you'd like.”

“No, no, that's okay!” I replied, waving my hands in surrender. I leaned more of my weight on Misaki as the whatever opioid Star injected me with started to really get working. I must've been making a weird face because both Misaki and Star were trying their best to hold back laughter.

“Where are Isao Tsukimura's remains?” Star asked.

Misaki motioned behind us. “Over there. The body is still alive, but Karin destroyed his fused miasmic core with the Relic. The mind that once inhabited the body is dead.”

Star's eyebrows shot up, intrigued. “That may prove to be useful. I'll have my people evacuate the body and arrange for it to be returned to headquarters.”

“What are you going to do?” I wondered, though I wasn't exactly sure I really wanted to know the answer.

“Research.” Star reached into one of her other pouches and pulled out a pack of my usual brand of cigarettes. She fished one out and handed it to me. “Studying the physical and biological effects the merging invocation had on his body will help us fight others who may have done the same as Isao Tsukimura.”

I managed to chase away the uneasy feeling by reminding myself that the body over there no longer had anyone behind the wheel, so to speak. Not to mention that its previous occupant also tried to torture me to death, enslave my lover and threatened to murder my remaining family members.

I glanced at Misaki. “Can I get a light?”

“Did you forget where you left your lighter again?” Misaki asked as she conjured a tiny spell-flame on her fingertip. I leaned closer to it and poked the tip of the smoke into the fire, puffing a few times to light it.

“Nooo, I didn't forget.” The drugs were already making my head feel as if it were embedded in a fluffy cloud. “I left it and my cigarettes in the car. I kinda figured I wouldn't have time for a smoke break when we were, y'know, busy trying to not die.”

“Good point.” Misaki turned to Star, her ears twitching. “Shouldn't we be getting out of here as quickly as we can? Preferably before the police show up?”

“Not necessary,” Star explained. “AEGIS has contacted the Japanese government and asked for a moratorium on official response until the situation has been contained. It was granted. We'll be able to take care of everything long before the police are allowed to even set foot in any of our operation areas.”

It was a good thing that I was holding my cigarette, because otherwise it would have hit the ground when my jaw dropped open. Misaki didn't appear to be nearly as surprised as I felt. Maybe after existing in this shadow world of magic and darkness for six centuries she was a little more accustomed to this sort of thing.

“We have considerable influence.” Star's thin smile was not especially reassuring. “Our mission would be virtually impossible without the cooperation of governments all over the world. The threat posed by specters and those who would summon them for power is one that transcends political boundaries.”

“I really shouldn't be surprised, I guess.” I blew out a plume of smoke. The pain in my leg was nearly gone, though I knew the morphine wouldn't last forever. I really needed to get to a hospital and get patched up.

Star fixed Misaki with a cool stare. “Get her to a hospital. We'll handle the cleanup. I'll be in touch, but as of right now the both of you are on paid leave for medical reasons.”

“What about Mama?” I blurted. “The miasma seed that Saitou guy infected her with?”

“She'll be fine.” Star waved away my concerns and gave us both an impatient look. “The miasma seed withered and died the moment you destroyed the core.”

I must've looked unconvinced, because Star sighed in exasperation. “Just get out of here and get to a hospital. The shot I gave you isn't going to last forever and without your bloodstream pumped full of endorphins, you're really going to feel it when the painkillers wear off. Get out of here, Karin. That's a direct order.”

“Okay, okay, I'm going.”

I leaned on Misaki as we walked back to the car.

convalescence

It felt good to be surrounded by the familiar.

Misaki sat beside me, her tail curled around the small of my back. The television was on, turned to some drama I'd never seen before, but since I couldn't really move around very well, I'd been doing a lot of watching TV and browsing the internet on my phone. I was actually a little surprised how badly my Japanese had disintegrated over the years, but since I'd be down for the count for at least another two weeks, now was as good a time as any to patch it back up.

“Karin, do you want anything to drink?”

I looked up at my mother. Her expression was the one she'd been wearing for the past six hours, a combination of worry and maternal warmth. After leaving the hospital this morning and arriving at the Takeda family home, Mama had gone into full-blown caretaker mode, going so far as to dispense with the usual acerbic snark that defined most of our relationship as adults.

“I wouldn't mind some more coffee, please,” I replied.

Mama nodded. “Okay, dear. Lunch will be ready soon. Would you like anything to drink, Misaki?”

“Um, some tea would be nice. I'll come help you in the kitchen with lunch.”

“No, stay with Karin, please,” Mama objected, shaking her head. “Just let me fuss over the two of you for a while, okay? Don't worry about anything.”

I frowned at my empty coffee mug. “What happened to that high school boy you hired to do some of the housework?”

“You mean Satoshi? He went off to attend university in Tokyo.” Mama disappeared into the kitchen, but there weren't any walls between us, so she just raised her voice to compensate for the distance. “I haven't found anyone else I was willing to hire just yet, and since I'll probably be coming back to the States soon enough...”

I felt a twinge of guilt spread through my gut. “Mama, you know Misaki can help take care of me, and by the way, I only broke my leg. I can still walk with the crutches. Shouldn't you be spending time with Grandma and Grandpa?”

“I'm aware Misaki is perfectly capable of caring for you,” Mama replied, “but no, you did not 'only break your leg.' You also broke four ribs, one of which punctured a lung, you've got electrical burns, lacerations, bruises all over your body and, oh yes, let's not forget the internal bleeding and nerve damage. If I could take the cigarettes away from you I would, but I'd rather pick battles I can actually win.”

“How did you—never mind, I already know. Misaki told you.”

The distressed look Misaki gave me was heartbreaking. “I-I'm sorry, but... we were both really worried about you, Karin!”

“'Were,' my ass,” Mama added. “We're both still very worried about you, dear. But you seem to be healing well and Misaki isn't letting you overdo it, so I'm sure everything will be just fine.”

I felt a lump start to form in my throat. “I'm lucky to be in such good care.”

“You're damn right you are.” Mama walked back into the living room area and set down a fresh mug of coffee for me and another cup of green tea, brewed hot and strong enough to double as paint thinner, for Misaki. She seemed to like it, though. I watched as she picked up the cup and took a long, luxurious sip. Her ears fluttered a bit and she sighed contentedly.

“Seriously though, Mama” I went on, “I know it's hard on you, that Grandma and Grandpa are—”

“Dying,” Mama interrupted. “Yes, dear, they're dying. They're very old. People usually do that when they become very old.”

Okay, so maybe her snark wasn't completely turned off.

“Karin, I've spent the past several years planning for my parents' deaths. We all knew it was coming, it was just a matter of exactly when and how. That was the whole reason I came back to Osaka in the first place.”

“I know, but I'm not dying and so shouldn't you, well, want to be with them for the little time they have left?”

Mama was banging pots and dishes against the counter tops for a moment before she responded. “No, I don't. What would be the point? They aren't even conscious most of the time, so I'd just be sitting in a hospice room while they slept. We've already done that, dear. We've said our final goodbyes.”

I didn't really have a response to that. Misaki curled around me more tightly and I could feel the fur on her tail fluff out a bit. She wasn't agitated, but I think she was just feeling especially protective of me, considering what happened during the battle.

Damn it, I wasn't supposed to be thinking about that. I shook the thoughts out of my mind and nestled in further against the overstuffed sofa. Misaki's ears twitched as Mama came out into the front room with a tray containing our lunch, a large pile of roast turkey sandwiches with avocado and bacon.

“Here, I bought some potato chips, too,” Mama said as she opened up a big foil bag of some fancy artisan potato chip, garlic-Parmesan flavor.

“Thanks, Mama.” I gave her a wide and completely genuine smile. She went back into the kitchen to clean up while Misaki and I attacked the sandwiches and chips with a great deal of enthusiasm. Hospital food was not my very favorite, so this was a treat. As I started on my second sandwich piece, the doorbell rang.

“I'll get it!” Mama shouted.

“It's probably Star,” I guessed—correctly, as Mama opened the front door and invited the always elegant-looking AEGIS controller into the Takeda house. Star exchanged some pleasantries with my mother before walking into the living room where Misaki and I were busy stuffing our faces.

“How are you feeling, Karin?”

I swallowed a mouthful of sandwich. “Not bad, considering how badly I got my ass kicked. The docs patched up all the places I was leaking and set my leg, put it in a cast. They say it'll be at least two weeks before I can lose the cast, but I'll be on a crutch for at least another month after that.”

Star arched an eyebrow. “That quickly?”

“The docs were pretty shocked with how fast I heal, too.” I snickered and took another bite from my sandwich. “Misaki set up some kind of long-term healing magic thing. I don't know how it works, ask her.”

Misaki gave me a dirty look. “I told you how it worked yesterday!”

“Yeah, well, I forgot, okay? It was kind of confusing and I was still pretty doped up.”

“I'm feeding her own mana back into her in a sort of low-level healing invocation,” Misaki explained for Star's benefit. “I'm not the best with healing, so this was the safest thing I could do. I didn't want to cause her leg to heal wrong or get even worse than it already is...”

“I'm sure you're doing the right thing.” Star reached into a pocket and took something out, handing it to me. It was a small black box of the sort that jewelry usually came in. I stared at it blankly and then glanced at Star, confused.

“What's this?”

“Open it and find out.”

Shrugging, I opened the box. Inside were two gold rings, each decorated with a small faceted gemstone, cut in the shape of a small heart. One was an intense red, either a garnet or a ruby, and the other was a translucent silvery-white stone that I didn't recognize. They were clearly well-made and definitely not cheap, even if the design was a little fanciful.

“I wanted to get something for the two of you, something from me, personally,” Star murmured. A faint touch of color was visible on her cheeks. “Your contribution made the success of one of my most difficult long-term operations possible. I thought... maybe a little token of my appreciation would be appropriate.”

I admit, I was pretty touched. Not just for the gift itself, but for the little bit of insight about Star that the gift signified. I knew it was the rules, as a result of our status as independents, that kept Star from revealing much about herself, but I didn't think it was too off-base to assume she preferred to keep herself closed up regardless.

“The red stone is a ruby,” Star continued. “I picked that one for Misaki. The clear-white stone is a sapphire, and it's for you, Karin. The sizes should be correct, but if they aren't, I'll gladly take them to be adjusted—”

I held a hand up to stop her. “They're beautiful, Star. Thank you. I'm sure the size is just fine.” I plucked the clear sapphire ring from the box and slipped it onto my ring finger. If it wasn't my size it was close enough that I couldn't tell the difference. I held my hand out and admired how the stone sparkled and caught the light.

“Here, Misaki.” I took the ruby ring and slipped it on her finger. Again, it appeared to fit just fine. Misaki grinned widely as she moved her hand into the sunlight. She turned to Star and pounced without warning, clinging to the woman tightly.

“Thank you, Star!”

Star blinked in surprise and awkwardly returned the embrace, patting Misaki on the back. Her cheeks flushed even more brightly than before as she realized Misaki's eyes were wet with tears.

“Y-you're quite welcome, Misaki,” she managed, slowly disentangling herself from the physical manifestation of Misaki's gratitude. Misaki continued to grin and stare at her ring, her tail swishing back and forth rapidly.

I burst into laughter at the unlikely scenario playing out in front of me. Which probably wasn't the best idea, because my broken ribs started to protest by sending shooting pains through my chest. I coughed and tried to arrest my laughter, but I couldn't, which just made the pain worse.

“Karin!” Misaki cried, rushing back to sit down next to me on the couch. She started patting and rubbing my back. “Are you okay?”

I managed to stop cracking up, which was a boon for my broken ribs. “Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Broken ribs and laughter doesn't really mix, apparently.”

Misaki glared at me and waved a chastising finger. “You need to take it easy!”

“I know, I know.”

Star's uncharacteristically open expression was gone, replaced by her more usual prim and proper polite smile. “I've also come to talk about work. As of two days ago, you and Misaki have been issued a sixty-day medical suspension of cases. Your monthly retainer fee will not be interrupted.”

I was a little surprised at that. “That's very generous.”

“The branch director left it to my discretion,” Star admitted.

“I thought that may have been the case.”

A ghost of the blush returned to Star's cheeks. “I've also transferred a small amount to Yoshiko Ashley's account as recompense for the collateral damage caused to the Takeda family home during the course of this operation.”

“I'm sure Mama will be thankful.”

The table Saitou upended when he took my mother hostage had been scratched up pretty badly. It was a very old antique dining room table and getting it repaired and re-finished by someone who actually knew what they were doing wouldn't be cheap. Still, though, I knew damn well that Star's “small amount” would be far greater than the cost of getting it taken care of.

“As I said, it's the least I can do for the trouble I caused her.”

“Thank you, young lady,” Mama called from the kitchen. She came back into the room and handed Star a cup of tea.

“Ah... you're quite welcome, Mrs. Ashley,” Star managed. It was becoming increasingly clear to me that Star wasn't exactly accustomed to dealing with kind people. I guess that made sense, as her job generally put her up against some of the very worst types of people out there.

Mama retreated back into the kitchen once she was satisfied that Star would drink the tea she offered. I did my best to suppress any urge to laugh, knowing that it would cost me in pain. Broken ribs were really fucking awful.

“I'll contact you again when your medical leave is concluded.” Star gulped her tea down and set the cup on the coffee table. “I need to get back to work. The cleanup operation requires my attention.”

I nodded. “Thanks for coming by and checking on me.”

“It was no trouble.”

Star turned around and walked out without another word. Misaki's expression told me she was barely containing her own mirth at the situation as well. When the front door shut and latched behind our boss, Misaki burst into giggles.

“Star was being so cute,” she gushed. “She was really out of her element!”

“There's definitely more to her than is immediately apparent.” I indicated the ring on my finger. “Don't you think these are a little, um, how do I put this...”

“Girlish?” Misaki guessed.

“Yeah, that's a good word for it. I mean, don't get me wrong, they're beautiful and I wasn't about to refuse a gift given so thoughtfully. It just makes you think, doesn't it?”

Misaki's ears twitched. “About what kind of person Star really is?”

“Yeah. I never would have guessed someone with a cool-as-ice personality like Star's would choose a gift like this.”

Mama came into the living room with her phone in hand, a very odd expression on her face. I waited for the expected objection to come.

“I think your supervisor must have made a mistake,” my mother began. “It shouldn't cost more than ten thousand yen to have the dining room table fixed, but... look at this.”

She showed me her phone. It was open to her mobile banking app, clearly indicating a recent electronic funds transfer within the last hour. The amount was, as I expected, at least three times more than the repairs would cost.

“That's just how Star is,” I told Mama, waving a hand dismissively. “Just do whatever you want with the remainder.”

“But it's way too much... I can't accept this.”

I shook my head “Don't try to reverse the transfer. It'll just fail and you'll make her feel even more guilty. Just consider it her way of apologizing. She did kind of allow you to be held prisoner, remember?”

“I suppose,” Mama hedged. “Oh, well, I can use the extra money to help with the moving costs. Not that I wouldn't have been able to handle them myself, mind you.” My mother gave me a look that told me in no uncertain terms that I would be really, really dead if I even so much as offered help paying for the move.

Mama strode over to the pegs near the wall and retrieved the dog leash. “I'm going to take Kaede out for a walk. Will you be all right without me?”

“Yes, Mama, I can manage for the whole hour you'll be gone,” I replied, more than a little exasperation creeping into my voice. “Misaki is here and she can help me if I need to get something.”

“Okay, Karin dear. Misaki, don't let her try to do too much.”

I rolled my eyes, but Misaki nodded solemnly. “I'll make sure she rests.”

“For fuck's sake, she's just going to go walk the dog!”

Misaki and my mother both gave me a look that told me I was treading on thin ice and should reconsider my course. I sighed and sank back into the couch, grabbing the TV remote and flipping through the channels.

I pulled a cigarette from my pack and lit it. Mama didn't really like me smoking inside, but she categorically refused to let me hobble outside on my own while I was still this badly beat-up. Besides, my grandfather smoked a pipe for most of his entire life, so it wasn't like the house hadn't seen worse already.

“Won't you get bored, staying here with me while I heal? It's going to be at least six weeks before I can be completely up and about again. Mama won't even let us fly back home until the cast comes off.”

“I'm sure we can find fun things to do while we're here.” Misaki's expression brightened a little. “We can get a wheelchair and I'll take you places. We can go for walks in the park, maybe go to Kyoto and see all the historical sites. Oh! We could go to an onsen and let you soak in the hot springs. I'm sure that would help with the pain.”

“You mean we can pretend to be tourists.” My eyes were narrowed, but in all honesty the things Misaki suggested really did sound nice.

“Yes! Doesn't that sound like fun? Don't forget that you have a very knowledgeable tour guide, so you shouldn't let a chance like this go to waste.”

I smiled, wondering just how many history books Misaki could rewrite based on her life experiences and memories. She continued to chatter away about the various extremely tourist-y things that we could do in Japan, but I wasn't really listening anymore.

I was just looking at her, the person I loved. I didn't care that she was an immortal spirit bound to a sword forged to slay evil specters. I didn't care that she was created as a living weapon. None of that really mattered. All I cared about, all that mattered to me is that she was here, with me, and that she loved me and I loved her.

That's all.

identity

Misaki looked a little more nervous than I thought she would. I had already explained to her that hiding away from my family was pointless, especially since Mama already knew just about everything.

“I don't know,” Misaki worried. “I think I should use the invisibility charm. Didn't Star make Yoshiko sign a really strict nondisclosure agreement?”

I put my hand over my face and groaned in exasperation. “Yes, love, but if you recall, the NDA was about the mission, not about you or me specifically. As I've already told you about a zillion times.”

“But...”

“No buts, Misaki,” I argued. “So-yi knows exactly what it's like to have to hide away from people. She's not going to get all weird about it, trust me. I mean, it'll be shocking at first, but So-yi isn't the kind of person who would reject someone for being different.”

“I suppose. Well, you know your sister best.”

“Exactly.” I turned off the highway onto the exit that would take me to the little suburb where my sister lived, just outside of Portland. My sister was only one state away from me, but I didn't often go to visit her. As much as I loved my sister and spent hours talking to her on the phone, I'd always found it very difficult to actually see her in person. It was relatively recently that I finally figured out why.

So-yi had her life as an adult solidified almost from the moment she graduated college, completed her transition and married her partner. I, on the other hand, was just now starting to get my shit together. I felt anxious, but I was determined to try and grow up for real now. I needed to see my sister's successful life as inspiring, not intimidating.

Mama didn't seem to think that I was too old to still be finding myself. My mother believed I didn't have anything to feel guilty about, despite only just now, through various trials and tribulations, managing to find some direction in my life. The occasional twinges of pain in my leg were a poignant reminder of the most recent of those trials.

The cast came off two weeks ago. I could walk okay, but I still needed to use a cane most of the time. The injuries I sustained in the battle left me with nerve damage and chronic pain, especially in my left leg. Misaki assured me that even though it would normally be permanent and debilitating, the healing feedback would encourage the nerves to repair over time.

My grandparents' funeral was also two weeks ago. Misaki and I both attended, keeping Mama company. So-yi watched via a live-streamed video, attending if not in person, at least in spirit, more for Mama's sake than anything else.

I didn't really have to guess why my sister didn't want to come, even though Mama would have bought her tickets without hesitation. Our grandparents hadn't exactly been as out-and-out hostile to So-yi as our father and brother, but they disapproved strongly. It had been a major point of contention between Mama and her parents after So-yi went off to college, one that the family never quite recovered from.

Mama made her peace with her parents while caring for them in Osaka, but So-yi never did, choosing instead to forget she even existed. I shook the unpleasant memories from my mind and focused on the road, turning off the main road and into the suburb proper, the storefronts quickly replaced by cookie-cutter homes with well-manicured lawns.

“It's nice, but the houses all look so similar,” Misaki observed.

“Yeah, I'm with you on that. Not a fan of suburbs.” I eased off the accelerator and took the next left onto So-yi's street. Her house was the second one on the right. Two cars were parked in the driveway: So-yi's little Toyota four-door sedan and a very new-looking minivan. I didn't see Nicole's purple sports car anywhere.

Huh. They really were serious about the whole having kids thing, weren't they? I parked my old hybrid at the curb and opened the door.

I stepped out and took a breath of the air. It was humid, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. Misaki followed me out, her tail swishing nervously. Her ears drooped just a little, underscoring her uneasiness.

“Don't be so worked up, love,” I told her.

“I can't help it. I'm nervous. I want to make a good impression on your sister.”

I let out a chuckle. “Mama adores you. I doubt very seriously that you'll have even the slightest problem with So-yi. Come on, let's go.”

We walked up to the front door and I pressed the doorbell. There was some motion behind the curtains drawn across the window and the front door opened up. My little sister stood at the threshold and smiled widely when she saw me.

“Karin, oh, I'm glad you could come. It's really good to see you!”

She didn't waste time and almost picked me up in a tight hug, one I regretted a bit as a sharp spike of pain emanated from my leg. It must've shown in my face, because So-yi was instantly apologetic.

“Oh, sorry, sis! I guess your leg isn't completely healed yet.”

“I'm almost there, but it still hurts a bit,” I hedged. It actually hurt a lot, but the last thing I wanted to do was worry my sister even more. I was feeling a touch anxious myself as So-yi caught sight of Misaki. Shrouded in the shadows at the edge of the porch light as she was, I don't think my sister actually noticed her ears and tail yet.

“Oh! Who is this, Karin? Is that—”

“Yeah, it's her, the one I told you about. Can we do the introductions inside? It's pretty fucking cold out here.”

So-yi smacked her forehead with a palm. “Ugh, I'm sorry. A little out of sorts with all the crazy stuff going on right now. Come on in, the both of you. I'll take your coats.”

I walked inside and Misaki followed me. We both took our jackets off and So-yi took them, hanging them from a peg. She turned around to motion for us to follow her into the rest of the house and froze.

“W-what—oh my word!”

Misaki stood in the entryway, which was much more well-lit than the driveway and path leading to the front door. Her tail was swishing hesitantly and her ears had drooped down even more than before.

“A-are those... real?” So-yi blurted.

“Um, yes.” Misaki wiggled her ears and curled her tail around her right thigh. “They're real, actually part of my body.” She uncurled her tail and let it fall behind her where it went back to slowly swishing to and fro.

My sister turned toward me, a dazed expression on her face. “What's going on, Karin? W-why does that girl have a t-t-tail and...”

I clapped my sister on the shoulder. “Why don't we go have a drink and we'll tell you all about it?”

“Yes... that sounds like a good idea.”

So-yi led us through the small but comfortable house. The daze seemed to wear off a little as we entered the kitchen. A blonde woman with a rough pixie cut sat at the table with both a laptop and a glass of Irish crème liqueur in front of her. She looked up as we came into the kitchen and, predictably, her eyes widened and she did a double-take.

“What in the world... ?”

“Hi, Nicole,” I greeted her.

“Karin... why does that girl have—”

“This is Misaki,” I interrupted Nicole as So-yi came back with drinks—a beer for me and Misaki and another glass to fill with Irish crème for herself. Nicole stared at Misaki, her eyes wide with astonishment.

Misaki, to her credit, wasn't retreating to go curl up in a corner and cry. Instead she stood as proudly as she could, her vulpine features prominently displayed. I popped open my beer and took a sip from it. So-yi had good taste when it came to most things, but she liked Asian beer, which I considered unacceptably weak. Still, it didn't taste bad.

“I'm going to address the elephant in the room, trust me, but first, let's just do the introductions, okay?” I gave So-yi and Nicole a patient look, trying to keep any annoyance out of my voice as I sat down at the table, leaning my cane against the wall behind me.

“Hi,” Misaki greeted, her voice held clear and calm. “My name is Misaki, as Karin already mentioned. We're together, a couple, partners. I love Karin very much.”

“And I love Misaki very much,” I added, favoring her with a smile. “As for the obvious questions you two are going to ask: yes, those are Misaki's actual ears and that is actually her tail. Misaki, this is my sister So-yi and her wife, Nicole.”

“It's very nice to meet you both.” Misaki bowed low in her usual archaic style. I shook my head, but I wasn't really bothered by it. The little bits of her mannerisms that came from hundreds of years ago was just another part of her that I found irresistible.

“H-how... I mean, why does she have fox ears and a tail?” Nicole demanded.

Misaki leveled a reproachful gaze at Nicole. “I... I can speak for myself, you know. I'm not a human. I'm a bound spirit infused with the aspect of the fox, which is why my ears look the way they do and why I have a tail.”

So-yi narrowed her eyes at me. “Is this some kind of prank, Karin?”

“It's not a prank!” Misaki protested, her earlier nervousness swept away by indignant frustration. “This is me, this is who I really am! Karin and I decided that we were not going to hide my true nature from her family. To be honest with the people she cares about!”

I pulled a cigarette from my pocket and lit it. The ashtray sitting on the table gave me permission. “Look, sis, so Misaki is different. So what? You know all about being different, and you know exactly what it's like to have to hide.”

“B-but that's not the same thing. It was just that my gender... I mean, I'm still a person!”

“Misaki is a person, too.” I took a long draw off the smoke and flicked ashes into the glass ashtray. “She just isn't human. I'm going to let her explain, but the both of you need to pick your jaws up off the floor and let her fucking talk.”

My sister and her wife seemed to gain a considerable amount of enthusiasm for their drinks and downed them quickly before refilling the glasses. I didn't bother to chastise them for that. When in Rome, I suppose. I took a long swig from my beer. Misaki even sipped at hers before she started to speak.

“I was created six hundred and thirty-seven years ago,” she began, her voice gaining in strength and confidence as she went. “My original purpose was to act as support for the warrior who wielded the Relic, a blessed sword forged for the task of destroying those spirits who were corrupted by evil.”

I materialized the Relic on the table. So-yi and Nicole recoiled as the sword suddenly appeared out of thin air. The blade was mirror-bright and always appeared polished. I could see the dark and light curvature of the pattern-welding marks that traveled down the length of the blade. The red cord binding the rayskin of the hilt still looked as bright and clean as the day it was wrapped.

Even though the sword had been bound to me for months now, this was the first time I really took a good, long look at it. For such an important weapon, I was a little surprised at how utilitarian it looked. All of the smith's passionate effort must've gone into the Relic's magnificent blade.

“This sword is the Relic,” Misaki continued, motioning to the blade. “It is bound to Karin and it is that link which provides me with the astral energy I need to exist in this physical reality, as well as to make use of my abilities.”

Misaki held her hand up and demonstrated, her spell-flame igniting and flowing over her hand. So-yi downed her booze in a single go and continued to stare at Misaki's burning hand with a fascination that no longer held disbelief.

“Does that... hurt?”

Misaki shook her head. “No. The spell-flame is not natural fire. I control the flames completely. They only burn what I want them to burn.” She turned and placed her fire-shrouded hand on my arm. I felt a slight increase in heat, but otherwise nothing except the soft skin of Misaki's hand.

“That's amazing,” Nicole breathed, her voice just barely slurring.

Apparently, alcohol was much stronger than fear and confusion.

Misaki released her spell-flame and held her hand out. The heart-shaped ruby of the ring Star had given her sparkled in the light. Both my sister and her wife stared at her hand, growing more excited and less afraid as Misaki displayed her special talents.

So-yi poured herself another glass of the Irish crème. “How did... how did all of this even happen?”

“A few months ago, at my old job, there was a break-in...” I related the story of how I was called in to handle the intrusion at the Records & Licensing Agency. So-yi and Nicole listened intently, hanging on my every word. I told the story as completely as I could, considering the restrictions placed on me by AEGIS.

“So that's how you got hurt so badly,” So-yi reasoned.

Nicole's eyes were wide. “This is your new job? Hunting down these specter things for some secret government agency?”

“Yeah, though there's a lot I can't tell you without getting into big trouble.” I finished off my beer and So-yi offered to get me another, which I accepted. “Mama already found out about the whole thing when we were in Japan working on a case, so I figured that you should know at least as much as I'm allowed to tell.”

So-yi returned with more beer. I popped the cap and drank deeply. “Anyway, that's the whole story, at least as much as we can tell.” I released the Relic's material form, the sword vanishing as if it had never been. This time neither my sister nor her partner seemed to react.

I didn't mention to them the threat the Tsukimura clan tried to use to force me to kill myself and relinquish the Relic. In fact, I left out the details of that case entirely as the whole thing was just too bound up in the classified stuff.

“That's... definitely something else,” Nicole observed, wide-eyed.

“I should have guessed my big sis would have found love through some totally bizarre and convoluted scenario,” So-yi added.

Misaki smiled and sat down next to me, clinging to my shoulder. Her ears were perked up now and her expression was calm and peaceful. I could feel her tail curl around the small of my back and soon I was smiling, too.

“My life has always been pretty weird. This seems like par for the course.”

“Isn't that the truth.” So-yi sipped at her drink now, the initial shock having worn off through the liberal application of both alcohol and demonstration.

“It was Mama's fault,” I complained, stubbing my cigarette out in the ashtray. “She totally bullied me into confessing, right there in front of her!”

“That sounds like Mama, all right.” So-yi laughed and reached out to take my hand. I held my sister's hand and squeezed it affectionately. I was currently pretty surprised myself at how the way I saw her had changed. I knew I finally had some direction to my life, some purpose outside of simply living, making money and buying things. My new life as a spirit hunter was definitely part of that, but my relationship with Misaki was the true spark that lit the bonfire.

I changed the subject. “Speaking of Mama, she told me the two of you are planning to have kids. Why did I have to find out about it from her? Couldn't you have at least told me about this?”

“Honestly, Karin, I was worried what you might think,” So-yi replied. “I was afraid you'd think I was sacrificing my own desires for Mama's sake, that I was letting society's rules crush me down.”

Yeah, it was exactly as I'd thought. I was right on fucking target with that.

“I'm really sorry, sis. Sometimes I can be a pretty terrible older sister.”

I took a sip of my new beer and wondered how many of them I'd actually have to down before I started feeling even a little buzzed. I strongly suspected Misaki's healing thing was preventing me from getting drunk.

“I knew you'd argue with me about it.” So-yi sighed and squeezed my hand. “I was afraid you'd convince me, that I'd agree with you and just go along with what you said, even though this is something I really want and have wanted for a long time.”

I didn't say anything because there really wasn't anything to say. She was completely right. I took it as a good sign that I wasn't starting to feel miserable about it.

“But Karin would never do something so cruel!” Misaki objected. I could tell she was feeling obligated to defend me. I pulled my hand away from my sister's and took Misaki's hand in mine as I looked her in the eyes.

“No, Misaki, she's right. I would have.” I squeezed my love's hand lightly and released it, turning my attention back to my sister and her wife. “For most of your life, I've really idolized you, sis. For a long time, I was, well, in love with you. Not just a little, but like seriously head-over-fucking-heels in love with you.”

So-yi nodded, her lips curving into a sad smile. “I know, Karin. I've known since we were kids. I know that's why you never dated when you were in high school. I know that's why you had such a terrible time with relationships when you went off to college. Why you insisted on calling me almost every day. If I let you, you would have talked to me for hours and hours.”

“Um, I actually did that, more than once,” I reminded her.

“Look, Karin, it's okay. Really.” So-yi's tone was reassuring. “I've known ever since that gloomy, rainy day, fifteen years ago.”

I stiffened in my chair. I knew exactly which day she was talking about.

“You've known for that long?”

“I did. It was a week after the funeral,” So-yi murmured, more for Misaki's benefit than anything else. “You were fourteen, almost fifteen, and I had just turned twelve. That rainy day, I kissed you, not as my big sister, but as a sad girl who loved me. Because you wouldn't stop crying and I wanted nothing more than to see your smile again.”

I glanced at Nicole, who didn't look to be surprised to hear these things. She probably already knew, already had this discussion with So-yi years ago.

I lit another cigarette and puffed for a few moments. “I just... I couldn't get you out of my head or my heart, no matter what I did. It just wouldn't happen. When I finally figured out what it was, I started seeing a therapist, to try and work through it.”

“I'm really glad to hear you're talking to someone about it,” So-yi murmured.

“Yeah. It was helping a little, but when... when I met Misaki and we started to develop feelings for each other, it changed everything. I don't know or care if it has to do with the bond with the Relic, but I know that was when things started to improve.”

“I'm so sorry, Karin. That you had to go through all of that...”

I felt my eyes start to sting. I knew the tears were going to come and there would be no stopping them at all. I'd always been quick to tears, even as a kid. Misaki clung to me more tightly, sensing the direction my emotions were headed. The warm and soft fur of her tail brushed against the small of my back.

“I can't believe you're apologizing to me. You were just a child. You didn't know any better, but I should have.” I felt the first of the tears roll down my cheeks. I didn't even bother to wipe them away.

“No, Karin.” So-yi shook her head, her gaze boring into me. “We were both children. Fourteen isn't any less of a child than twelve. You don't bear any more responsibility for what happened than I do. I'm just so sorry that my kiss imprisoned your heart for fifteen years.”

I watched the tears drip onto my sister's kitchen table. They were really going now, dropping one right after the other. I sniffled loudly, my sinuses starting to become affected by the crying.

Misaki lifted my head and wiped my tears away. She stared at me with her large, liquid green eyes, saying nothing and not needing to. I could tell, just from her eyes, from her expression, from the way her ears drooped forward, that she would be there for me no matter what.

“Well, it looks like my heart received a pardon for its crimes, signed and authorized by Warden Misaki.” I giggled through the tears. I felt as if my soul was being cleansed, the dirt and grime and dried, crusted blood of years being washed away by my tears.

“You have no idea how happy I am that you've found someone, that you're starting to find your way in life.”

“Likewise,” Nicole added. My sister's wife stared at me sympathetically. “Karin, I know we haven't always been on the best of terms, but I know you've always cared deeply about your sister. So-yi and I talked about it often, and so I knew that your love for her got all twisted up somehow. I tried as hard as I could to deal with your behavior because I knew what was going on, but sometimes I couldn't. I'm sorry.”

This was not going how I expected at all. The tears just kept coming. “What? You're going to apologize to me, too? How... I mean, what... why? Why are you two going so easy on me? I haven't been good. I fucking haven't, and you should be angry! I should be the one apologizing to the both of you!”

“Why?” So-yi echoed. She smiled at me. “Because we're family, you dumbass.”

Clearly she inherited more than just her looks from our mother.

love

I tapped my ID against the auto-lock and walked into my apartment, Misaki following close behind. The place was still a mess—I hadn't bothered to clean up since before we left for Japan. The food in the fridge had been cleared out and we kept putting off going to go shopping.

Getting around was still a little tough for me. I leaned on the cane and a little on Misaki as we returned back to our home.

“Are you hungry?” I asked. It was well into the early hours of the morning by the time we got back, but neither of us ate a real dinner. We went to go visit So-yi pretty late in the evening, so they'd already eaten by the time we arrived. The late lunch we ate while driving to my sister's house was pretty much used up.

“I could eat something, but where are we going to get food this late? It's 3:40 AM.”

“The pizza place is open 24 hours a day,” I reminded her. “They get lots of late-night business from the stoner crowd, plus the students pulling all-nighters, writers with no sense of time, people who stay up way too late playing video games. Really, it's a great business model.”

Misaki giggled. “Not surprised at all. Okay, I want pepperoni, linguica sausage, bacon, salami—”

“—and extra cheese, plus whatever vegetables you want, Karin,” I finished for her, pretty much quoting her usual preference word for word. “You really are very fox-like. Very foxy, indeed. In more ways than one.”

Misaki's ears wiggled and she grinned. “Your lame compliments never fail to make me smile. Unfortunately, they also never fail at being lame, either.”

I pulled out my phone and sat down while Misaki made tea. I entered our order into the delivery interface and received a message moments later, quoting a delivery time of just over a half an hour. Must have been a slow night.

Misaki returned a moment later with tea for herself and a cup of what looked like hot chocolate for me. I took the mug from her and gave her a curious look.

“It's almost four in the morning, Karin,” Misaki explained. “You aren't getting coffee or you'll never get to sleep. You need to rest so the regeneration process can repair the nerve damage in your leg.”

“I know, I know.” I held my hands up in surrender. “We've still got three weeks or so before Star puts us back to work. You know, I was thinking...”

“That can't be good,” she commented without missing a beat.

I gave her a sour look. “Mama's totally rubbed off on you, it seems. Anyway, so we've got time without responsibility, so what do you think about moving to a bigger apartment than this tiny little studio thing?”

Misaki's ears twitched. “One with a bedroom? And a real bath, like at the Takeda family home?”

“Probably not like that, no. Those aren't too common, unless you're talking really, really fancy lofts and the like. But otherwise, yes, an apartment with a bedroom. Maybe a two-bedroom, and we can set the other room up as an office or storage area.”

Misaki's expression became pensive. “We can definitely afford it.”

“Mm-hmm.” I let a sly smile cross my face. “In a bigger place, you know, we could maybe get a dog. I saw how well you and Kaede got on. Wouldn't you like to have a little Shiba like her for your own?”

“Won't we have to travel all the time, though?” Misaki pointed out. “I'd feel really bad if we had to leave a cute doggy like Kaede at the kennel all the time.”

“Yeah, okay, maybe that's a bad idea.” I frowned. She was right; it wasn't likely that enough cases involving specters would be popping up in and around the city for us to actually meet our completion goals.

“It's fine, but your mother is going to be moving back to America soon enough, remember? Isn't she going to rent a place nearby so she can be available to help take care of So-yi and Nicole's baby? Then I can just see Kaede when we go visit.”

“Whenever that happens. They're going to start the whole process next week. So it'll be another nine months from then, at the least, before the baby is born. Mama plans to move in with them after the little monster pops out.”

“You don't know their baby's going to be a little monster yet!” Misaki objected.

“Oh, yes I do. I know my sister and anything that comes from her DNA is absolutely going to be a little monster. I mean, look at Mama and me! Clearly our genetic material is hopelessly warped beyond anything even resembling normal.”

Misaki giggled and sipped at her tea.

“You're looking forward to it,” she accused.

“What? Me? No way. I'm very baby-averse! Deathly allergic, really. I start breaking out in hives just at the sight of an infant. Being around a toddler would send me into full-blown anaphylactic shock!”

“I don't believe you. I think, secretly, deep down in your heart, you're really looking forward to having a little one call you Aunt Karin, aren't you? Admit it, you are!”

Well, shit.

“... yeah. I am looking forward to it. So-yi wants to be a mama, and she and Nicole will totally make fantastic parents. Way better than Mama was to us, of course.”

“Do you and Yoshiko always speak about each other like that?”

“Of course. It's our thing,” I replied, sipping my hot chocolate. It was really good, silky and rich to the point where I think Misaki just used pure cream to make it instead of milk.

“Karin, what about... us?”

I blinked. “What do you mean, what about us?”

“I love you, and you love me.” Misaki was blushing and her ears started to droop forward. It didn't take much insight to figure out where she was going with this, but I had no intention of letting her off the hook so easily.

“Yes. That's true. I do love you, and you do love me.”

“I was thinking, about So-yi and Nicole...”

“Were you now?” I inquired, trying very, very hard to keep from laughing. Misaki shot me a look that was just about pure murder. My not-entirely-successful attempts to keep a poker face pretty much told her that I was fucking with her.

“Why do you have to make this difficult?”

“Because it's fun.”

Misaki let out a frustrated groan. “Okay, okay, Karin, I'm just going to say it since you obviously already know what I'm going to ask! Will you marry me?”

I let my expression change to one of mock indignation. “What, you don't have an engagement ring to give me? And you're not even bending down on one knee? You're really bad at this whole proposing thing, Misaki.”

“I can't exactly go out and buy one at four in the morning and besides, that's not even the point,” she growled. “For most of my life, the gifts went to the bride's mother as a dowry, anyway! Your proposal tradition is just as silly as that one.”

“I can't really disagree there,” I said, laughing.

“So... anyway, putting your insatiable desire to tease people aside: Karin Ashley, will you marry me?”

I smiled. “Yes. I will marry you, Misaki.”

Misaki's grin was wider than I'd ever thought possible. Her ears seemed to dance on her head and her tail oscillated back and forth at such a high frequency I wondered if it was going to start emitting heat and light.

The expected pounce came. It was literally a pounce, as in she actually jumped through the air and into my arms as I sat on the bed, knocking me backward against the mattress of the bed we shared. Fortunately, my broken ribs were completely healed by this point or I'd be in a world of pain.

Misaki was on top of me at this point, her tail up and wagging ridiculously fast. She looked into my eyes and her grin didn't diminish in the slightest.

“Hey, now, our pizza's going to be here pretty soon,” I reminded her. “Don't start going to town on me just yet or we're going to either miss our order or give the delivery boy a show he won't soon forget.”

“I'll settle for a kiss for now, how's that?”

“Deal.”

Misaki's lips pressed against mine, hungrily, fiercely. The feral passion that drove her desire for me was even stronger than usual. It really made her seem even more like that of her totem animal than her habit of eating pizza with way too many meat toppings.

I let my eyes close and returned the kiss, trying to match her intensity but pretty much failing completely. When it came to intimacy, I was definitely the bottom. I suppose I was lucky that my lover was such an adorably enthusiastic top.

Some time later, I could hear the sound of my phone chiming a warning that the delivery boy was only a few minutes away from the unit. Misaki drew away from me, licking her lips with a great deal of relish.

“That was yummy,” she announced.

acknowledgements

This story started out as most do: as a simple idea. I generally start with characters and then build a story around them, and bound together wasn't any different.

The original intent was as an entry for National Novel Writer's Month and wow, it's sure come a long way from those humble beginnings. I've participated in the challenge before, but bound together was the first time I ever actually met my goal. I started a little late, with the first week of November already behind me, but the words just flowed—or rather, the words poured forth in a torrent! I met the 50,000 word goal less than two weeks after I started, but I really loved this story, these characters and this world, so I just kept going.

I have a number of people to thank for their help with everything that led to the completion and publishing of my first novel-length work.

I'd like to first thank one of my closest friends—family, really, because love is more important than blood—who also happens to be my editor. Without your relentlessness in driving me forward, I doubt would be half as good a writer as I am. Thanks, Kyle. You always know how to light a fire under my ass and keep me on my toes!

I'd also like to give thanks to Adrienne, my other closest friend, for her exceptional work on the minimalist and lovely cover art that graces this novel. She did a fantastic job with it, as if her hands were capable of conjuring my thoughts into digital reality.

Other people I'd like to thank for their indirect contributions to bound together include pretty much all of my friends. Andrew, Halley, multiple different Sarahs, Amelia, Janice all contributed to my life in many ways, and while they may not have directly had influence on the writing process, my friendship with all of them helped inspire me to keep writing no matter what.

about the author

Hi there! My name is Corinn Heathers, and I'm the author!

Most about-the-author blurbs are written in the third person, but I find it tiresome and dull to do so. So here it is, from the top: I'm a lesbian transgender woman, quite a girly girl, a nerd and an author of speculative fiction.

I love to write science fiction and fantasy, or science fantasy fiction, or science fiction masquerading as fantasy and everything in between. As you might have noticed, I write stories with predominately female (and often queer) casts, often with mixed-race or otherwise non-white protagonists and supporting characters. I take great pleasure in subverting the usual tropes and cliches common in sci-fi and fantasy stories.

The San Francisco Bay Area is where I call home—no surprise there, right? The cost of living is awful, but the weather's always mild and the food is fantastic. There aren't many places I'd really rather be.

Social media-wise, I mostly use Twitter, @syn010110. I sometimes update my tumblr, which can be found at syn010110.tumblr.com. It's mostly covered up in fanart and various fandom squee, but I do often post pop culture rants (usually about LGBT issues and representation in entertainment media), articles about my writing process and other random things that strike my fancy.

Readers can contact me directly at corinn.writes.stuff@gmail.com, which I do check reasonably often. I'd be more than happy to read and respond to emails from my readership!