Home for Horny Monsters - Book 3

The Devil

Yuki sat on the porch swing, staring out at the front yard with a cup of tea in her hands.

The debris from the magic storm was strewn across the grounds, making the land look like a small junkyard. Somehow, it served as a perfect metaphor for her life right now, a giant mess with nobody to help clean it up. She took a sip of tea, letting out a sigh as the hot liquid streamed down her throat.

The front door opened behind her and Mike walked out, then sat down next to her on the swing. She fought the urge to scoot away, to turn her venom on him, but resisted. It was a knee jerk reaction to years of anger, and she mentally applauded herself for resisting.

"Ratu is working on a cure down in her Labyrinth," he told her. "She seems fairly optimistic that we can undo the gorgon's curse, but it will still take her a couple of days to finish putting what she needs together."

"Good." She sipped her tea, trying to keep her hands from shaking. It was hard existing without that burning rage seething away inside of her, and she was afraid of what would come next. Though Mike had healed her wounds, it was always possible that he might decide to kick her out or put her back in the tower. What didn't scare her so much was his judgment. Whatever the man thought of her, she likely deserved.

What scared her the most was that she would let him do it.

"So, the emerald is gone for good? No way we can get that back and use it on Oliver?"

Yuki shook her head. Discussion of the emerald hadn't happened yet. After the events in the front yard, she had told them everything about what had happened to Beth. The Rat King and Tink had filled Mike in on how Oliver had used Beth to steal secrets from the house, secrets he planned to turn over to the Society if she didn't give herself up.

Beth's contract with the demon weighed heavily on Yuki's mind, and she had gone over what was specifically said in the deal. Mike had frowned at this, but said nothing else.

"The emerald... this is hard." She set down the teacup and gripped the wood of the bench, her fingers biting into the wood. "I'll tell you about the emerald, but no questions until the end. It's something I only want to talk about once."

"Okay, then. I'll keep quiet."

She took a deep breath, remembering the events from so many years ago. "When Emily vanished, I thought she had been stolen away, abducted by a darker force. For years I searched, turning up nothing. You have to imagine my surprise when, one day, she reappears in the tower, as if she never left."

The memory of Emily cut deep, and Yuki bit down on her lip to keep from crying. She could still picture Emily standing against the balcony, the wind tossing her curly hair behind her. In disbelief, Yuki had approached, suspecting it was a dream or a trick. Emily had turned around, a twisted smile on her face, extending her hand as if to take Yuki's and hold it.

"When she came back, we got into a fight. I was caught off guard and it was fairly one-sided. During our fight, she pulled out this clear piece of glass. At least, that's what I thought it was. Have you ever heard about how your eyes are the window to the soul?" She touched her right eye in memory of the pain from the attack. "She apparently needed a piece of my soul. Not even the whole thing, just a very specific part. When she pulled it out, it..."

"Yeah, I can imagine." He gave her hand a squeeze, then retracted his hand. "Continue."

"I don't know why or how, but I came to, and she was holding that emerald. I didn't know it until now, but the emerald was a part of my soul, and she had just built some kind of magical artifact. When you used the gem to make me whole again, it destroyed itself to give back what had been taken from me. You can't just make a new soul, no matter how hard you wish it, but you can give back what was stolen." Yuki took a deep breath, then wiped a tear off her cheek. "And then she left. A few years later, I turned three hundred. For a kitsune, it's when we grow our next tail and choose the magic we wish to master. I was so hurt and angry that I deepened my knowledge of the frost that had grown in my heart, which resulted in this." She touched the white fur of her ears. "Kitsune can change their shapes, but we can't just whimsically change our nature. I've been missing a piece of myself for so long, it's very hard to describe how it feels to have it back."