Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,70

sensation was unpleasant given that human flesh did not take burning as well as an oni’s, the pressure of the chains was the most annoying. They continued to tighten and pull, trying to force me to the ground, and my temper flared. “If you had asked me who I was,” I went on, glancing at the circle around us. “You would have discovered that, while no human can bind me to their will, I find every attempt extremely bothersome, and every human who has tried it has lived only long enough to regret what they’ve done, before I tore the head from their neck and scattered their entrails over their own summoning circle.”

The head witch raised her arm, fingers glowing red with power, before they lengthened into black, obsidian claws. With a desperate shriek, she stabbed them at my face.

I grabbed her wrist before the pointed black talons sank into my eyes. With a snarl, I tore the arm from her body, yanking it out of the socket in a spray of blood and ripping tendons. The witch screamed, a high, agonizing keen, her voice ringing off the rafters and echoing through the entrance hall. I dropped the limb to the wooden floor, drove my claws through her middle to grab her spine and pulled the human apart.

Blood flew everywhere, spattering my face and splashing to the floor in puddles. The witch’s scream came to a gurgling stop, and the glowing chains wrapped around my body flared once and vanished, taking the pain with them.

Behind me, something cackled with glee. I turned, still clutching the two halves of the human, to see a dozen or so faces gazing at me through the open chamber doors. The hag sisters stood in the wooden frame, toothy grins stretched ear to ear. A crowd of yokai clustered behind them, obviously attracted by the sounds of violence, the screams and the smell of blood. Their eyes were huge and fearful as they stared at me over the hags, gazes sliding to the eviscerated blood witch in my claws. The rest of the coven seemed to be frozen in stunned horror. I dropped the bloody halves at my feet, letting them thump wetly to the planks, and smiled at my audience over the mangled body of Mistress Sunako.

“My name is Hakaimono,” I said, raising a claw that was covered in blood to the elbow. “If any would like to challenge me, please step forward right now. If any would like to attempt another binding,” I continued, glancing at the coven, who flinched and cringed away, “you are welcome to try again, but fair warning—this time I will not stand quietly. Any who wants my head is welcome to try to claim it. I care not if you come at me alone or all at once. But know that if you do, I will paint the walls in blood and snap the bones of every living creature in this castle before I am finished. This is your one chance to decide if you are an ally or an enemy.” I narrowed my eyes, gazing around the hall. “Choose wisely.”

At first, no one moved. The yokai were motionless. The coven didn’t even appear to breathe, standing like frozen statues in a circle.

The hag sisters were the first to come forward. “Hakaimono-sama,” the red sister said, and sank to her knees, touching her forehead to the floor. The other two followed her example.

One by one, the rest of the yokai followed, sinking to their knees or bowing their heads in silent respect. The jorogumo, nezumi, even the lone kappa, bowing as best it could without spilling the water from the bowl in its head. The humans, of course, were the last to move, standing motionless in their circle, perhaps too proud to bow their heads to a demon, a creature they were used to controlling. I turned and bared my fangs in a grin.

“You know the saying, humans,” I said, meeting their flat, stony glazes. “The status between a demon and a mortal can only be one of master and servant. There is no room for compromise. If you wish to be the master, you had best put a binding on me right now, otherwise I might have our association confused. And I don’t like being confused. So, which is it, master or servant? You have five seconds to decide. Four. Three. Two…”

The humans paled. Moving stiffly, they bent forward at the waist and as one, silently lowered