Shadow of The Fox (Shadow of the Fox #1) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,61

Power and adrenaline coursed through my veins but, as always, I felt the phantom claws of Hakaimono digging into my mind, trying to gain entrance, to force its way into my soul. I shut my mind to the demon once more, forcing it out of my consciousness and back into the darkness where it belonged.

As I dropped from the huge carcass, my legs gave out, as if the muscles in them had been cut through. I staggered, the blade falling from my numb fingers, and collapsed beside Kiba-sama, as slow, mocking clapping echoed through the ravine.

“Bravo, Kage-san, bravo.” The wind witch floated into my sight, grinning down at me. I lay on my back, panting, my hand just a finger’s width from Kamigoroshi. “That was a truly impressive battle. I understand now why the demons fear you.”

Dammit, I can’t move. I tried pushing myself to my elbows, to roll over and grab my sword, but my body felt like it was made of stone, and my limbs moved only a few inches. The wind witch drifted closer, pulling a short blade from her sleeves as her feet touched the ground.

“Don’t take this personally, Kage-san,” she told me, and raised the blade in a slender hand, the point angled straight toward my heart. I tried once more to move, opening my mind to Hakaimono, but my thoughts were sluggish, the demon’s presence a dim flicker in my consciousness. “But I’ll need to kill you quickly, before the poison wears off. Any last words?”

“Who...sent you?” I gritted out.

“Ah, I’m afraid you don’t get to know that, Kage-san,” the wind witch said, shaking her head. “I can’t go betraying my client. What would that do to my reputation? And even if I told you, it wouldn’t help you now, because I’m about to send your soul to Meido. Or Jigoku, depending on how the gods feel about you. Well,” she continued, and raised the blade even higher. “I suppose we should get on with it. Sayonara, demonslayer—”

A blur of red and white crossed my vision, and Yumeko slammed into the woman from the side, tackling her around the waist. Both tumbled to the ground with a shriek of outrage from the witch. From the corner of my eyes, I could see flashes of movement, flailing robes and beating arms as the two women scrabbled at each other.

“Get off me, you disgusting vermin!” With a blast of wind, Yumeko was hurled away, hitting the ground with a gasp several yards from us. The witch rose, furiously brushing off her sleeves, her expression curled into one of hate. “How dare you touch me, you filthy creature,” she snarled. “You will pay for this outrage! You will die screaming for mercy as my familiars slice you into tiny pieces, starting at your ankles and leaving your head for last! Kamaitachi!” she cried, pointing to the girl. “Kill her! Carve her up slowly. Make her suffer the Death of a Thousand Cuts!”

I held my breath, waiting for the shriek of wind, for Yumeko’s screams of pain as she was sliced open by the sickle weasels. But the gully was still; not a single breath of air stirred the leaves around us, and the wind witch scowled in confusion.

“Kamaitachi!” she called again, “you useless, lazy things. Didn’t you hear me?”

“Oh, they heard you.” Yumeko pushed herself upright, one hand curled around her stomach, the other clutching something at her side. “But it seems that the only reason they became your familiars was because of this.”

She raised her arm, and a small ivory netsuke, a piece of jewelry designed to fasten the cord of a travel pouch to the obi, dangled from her clenched fingers. This one was carved in the shape of a weasel, curled up as if asleep. It glittered in the sunlight, and the wind witch went pale at the sight of it.

“Someone told me that kamaitachi always come in groups of threes,” Yumeko went on, breathing hard. “And they’re very protective of each other. You trapped one to force the others to become your familiars, threatening to kill their sibling if they didn’t do what you wanted. Didn’t you?”

“You little thief!” The wind witch floated toward her, though her skin was ashen now, her eyes wide with fear. “Return that to me this instant. Give it back, and I will let you live.”

Yumeko shook her head, a grim smile playing across her lips. “No one should be forced into compliance, not even yokai,” she said.