出る杭は打たれる
derukui wa utareru
“The nail that sticks out is struck.”
~Japanese proverb
Horus
“Shit!” I catch her as she falls into my arms.
Her mouth gapes as her eyes blink up at me.
“Are you okay?”
“Was that magic?”
“Yes.” I gulp. “Dark magic, bad puke-killing magic.” I try to joke, but her eyes are still unfocused when Cassius walks in, takes one look at me holding Kit, and tilts his head. “Don’t ask.”
He suddenly sneezes, causing a razor-sharp feather to nearly impale me in the throat before I stop it with my hand.
“Sorry.” He winces. “It only happens when I catch a cold.”
He is still one percent human, not that I say it out loud.
“Let’s get her some air.” I pick her up and carry her out of the bathroom, Cassius follows. Timber takes one look at us, his eyes widen like he can sense something went down, and Alex is doing the same thing.
I catch Tarek’s gaze. “Take care of the bar; I’ll be right back.”
“The puke was that bad, huh?” he says with a snicker.
I just nod my head and take the stairs two at a time toward the penthouse apartment over the club.
We always leave the door unlocked because who would dare break in when a god and a werewolf reside here? Demons are dumb, but not that dumb.
That would be death, destruction, and you will never be born again dumb.
Hope and Stephanie follow us into the large living room and start closing the blinds.
Hope’s blue eyes flicker with worry from me to the human woman in my arms. I gently lay Kit down on the white leather couch and start to pace. “She saw.”
“The poop?” Timber
“Puke?” Cassius offers up.
I’ll strangle them both. “No, idiots, she saw me cleaning.”
Alex raises his hand. “I have questions.”
“Not now!” I yell. “She saw me do this.” I slow time, naturally they’re fully aware of it, and every single one of them winces.
Cassius sighs. “Easy, we’ll just wipe her memory. Won’t be the first time, but can I ask why you were using your power to do something a mop could do?”
“So lazy.” Timber shakes his head like he’s disappointed.
“You!” I jab a finger in his direction.
If he smirks at me one more time, he’s dead.
Cassius stands between us. “No fighting. You’ll scare her. She’s only a human.” He taps a finger on his shoulder and winces, pulling a razor-sharp purple and white feather from his skin like he has feathers as scales. He only lets people see them when he wants to, but they’re always there, like angelic armor that could kill anyone and anything whenever it wants.
Timber makes a noise in the back of his throat. “That’s a big one.”
Alex laughs. “That’s what she—”
Hope smacks him on the back of the head.
“Sorry,” comes his mumble as he rubs the spot she hit.
Cassius hushes everyone. “Quiet.” He tosses the feather into the air. It spins around and then blasts across the room, going through all of us before descending onto Kit’s forehead.
“What you see isn’t true,” Cassius says, “but a dream, and when you wake up, you’ll remember nothing but fainting.”
The purple part of the feather fades into her skin and disappears, leaving nothing but a normal-looking white feather on her face.
Her eyes jolt open.
She covers her mouth with her hand and sits up so fast I’m afraid she’s going to pass out again. The normal-looking feather floats on the air down into her lap.
Anyone would think it was from a pillow now, but she picks it up, examines it, and tilts her head up to Cassius. “Is this a magical feather?”
“Nope!” Alex yells, putting his hands in front of him and answering for Cassius. “Magic is a figment of the imagination. A duck wore that feather, a very dumb, ugly, cross-eyed… duck.”
“We’re…” Cassius glares. “Ghosts.”
Alex bursts out laughing, then. “I think I had too much of Cassius‘s birthday beer, but yeah, sure ghosts with feathers, we’ll go with that.”
Timber rolls his eyes and walks up to her. “May as well.” He points his finger at her chest and tethers her soul, frowning when it’s not blue like every other human’s.
It’s orange.
“Ummmm. Problem.”
Alex raises his hand. “Ummm… questions?”
Cassius shakes his head. “Is that orange?”
“Are you blind?” Timber yells. “Hurry and wipe her memory again!”
“You’re the idiot who checked her soul!” Cassius shoves him out of the way and plucks another feather, trying to do the same thing.
Kit’s visibly shaking when he puts the feather against her head again. “What makes you think it’s going to work now when it didn’t work before?” she asks.
The room goes silent.
Cassius drops his hand.
Timber takes a step back in front of the girls while Alex’s eyes blaze gold. He holds out his hands like a shield. “What are you?”
Kit’s teeth start to chatter as she pushes to her feet. “Wh-what do you mean what am I? What are you?”
“Ghosts probably isn’t the answer right now,” I mutter under my breath.
A tear slides down her cheek. “Are you going to kill me?”
“We don’t barbecue human,” Alex says unhelpfully. “We prefer chicken.”
“I do like a good duck every so often,” Timber just has to add.
“I don’t disagree with that statement,” Alex admits.
The door to the apartment opens. Ethan, vampire lord, is standing at the entrance in all his glory, fangs descending past his lower lip, wearing a lumberjack-style red flannel shirt and ripped jeans. “I heard yelling.”
“At your house ten miles away?” Timber asks.
“Not you.” His gaze lands on Kit. “You.”
“Me?” She starts crying in earnest. “What is this? What are you?”
“You guys haven’t even told her? What the hell is going on?” Ethan charges in and shakes his head at all of us, his expression one of pure disbelief. “You can’t just—” He sniffs the air. “Why are you holding a human hostage?”
“Why do you call me human?” she asks, voice weak.
“This isn’t going well,” I say, more to myself than anything. “Cassius, you should be able to wipe her memory.”
Kit retreats a step, covering her mouth in horror and speaking through her fingers. “Can’t I keep my memories?”
Timber waves a hand across her face and stumbles backward. “She’s empty.”
“That’s rude,” Hope says under her breath.
“No, I mean…” He waves his hand again, probably freaking Kit out even more. “She’s empty. There aren’t any conscious memories.”
I quickly shove him out of the way and snap my fingers in front of her face. “SLEEP!”
She collapses in my arms, and the room around us goes eerily silent.
Cassius presses a hand to her forehead. “I haven’t seen an orange soul in centuries.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “The ancient Chinese and Japanese had orange souls when they worshipped the creatures of the forest for protection, and some were turned immortal as a gift for living a good life, but it still doesn’t explain why a plain human would have one.”
“I got nothing.” Timber shakes his head. “Is she here on purpose? I sense nothing wrong with her soul. She just has the strange mark of color.”
“There’s nothing to fix. It’s just an odd color.”
“She’s not human,” Cassius finally says.
“Maybe not her soul, but her body is,” Timber clarifies.
I lay her gently back on the couch. “Let her rest before we start asking questions.”
“Or we start now.” Ethan takes a step forward, fangs descending again. “Blood never lies.”
“Ethan.” Cassius moves in front of him.
Ethan shoves him out of the way. “We’re the Immortal Council. Our job is to protect humanity and keep the balance with immortals. I’ll have a small taste and see if I can find anything of her past.”
“Just don’t get stuck there,” Timber mutters under his breath. “Am I right, Horus?”
I flip him off.
“Ah, too soon, too soon.” Alex slaps Timber on the shoulder. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Ethan. The last thing you need is to be sucked into whatever has her soul captive right now because it sure as hell is powerful and ancient.”
“He’s ancient,” Alex murmurs.
“Yeah, okay, demi-god.” Ethan drops to his knees. His fangs descend and bite right into her neck as a nightmarish scream from the pit of hell escapes from between her lips.
And I swear for a second.
I see orange fur on her hands.