Ichor : Blood & Secrets

Chapter 39

Then she gave one of her rare brilliant smiles. “In Japanese, that means: ‘I wonder; hmm; wouldn’t want to comment; my gosh, golly, I really couldn’t say.’ We could use a word like that in English.” Despite herself, Casie giggled.

“But, then, other stories say that kitsune can be killed by the Sin of Regret or by blessed weapons. I don’t know what the Sin of Regret is, but—”

She rummaged in her luggage, and came up with an old-fashioned but serviceable-looking revolver.

“Meredith!”

“It was my grandpa’s—one of a pair. Matt’s got the other one. They’re loaded with bullets blessed by a priest.”

“What priest would bless bullets, for God’s sake?” Casie demanded.

Meredith’s smile turned bleak. “One that’s seen what’s happening in Fell’s Church. You remember how Caroline got Isobel Saitou possessed, and what Isobel did to herself?”

Casie nodded. “I remember,” she said tautly.

“Well, do you remember how we told you that Obaasan—Grandma Saitou—used to be a shrine maiden? That’s a Japanese priestess. She blessed the bullets for us, all right, and specifically for killing kitsune. You should have seen how spooky the ritual was. Octiva almost fainted again.”

“Do you know how Isobel is doing now?”

Meredith shook her dark head slowly. “Better but—I don’t think she even knows about Jim yet. That’s going to be very tough on her.”

Casie tried to quell a shudder. There was nothing but tragedy in store for Isobel even when she got well. Jim Bryce, her boyfriend, had spent only one night with Caroline, but now had Lesch-Nye disease—or so the doctors said. In that same dreadful night that Isobel had pierced herself everywhere, and cut her tongue so that it forked, Jim, a handsome star basketball player, had eaten away his fingers and his lips. In Casie’s opinion they were both possessed and their injuries were only more reasons why the kitsune twins had to be stopped.

“We’ll do it,” she said aloud, realizing for the first time that Meredith was holding her hand as if Casie were Octiva. Casie managed a faint but determined smile for Meredith. “We’ll get Lucien out and we’ll stop Shinichi and Misao. We have to do it.” This time it was Meredith who nodded.

“There’s more,” she said at last. “You want to hear it?”

“I need to know everything.”

“Well, every single source I checked agrees that kitsune possess girls and then lead boys to destruction. What kind of destruction depends on where you look. It can be as simple as appearing as a will-o’-the-wisp and leading you into a swamp or off a cliff, or as difficult as shapeshifting.”

“Oh, yes,” Casie said tightly. “I knew that from what happened to you and

Octiva. They can look exactly like someone.”

“Yes, but always with some small flaw if you have the wits to notice it. They can never make a perfect replicate. But they can have up to nine tails, and the more tails they have, the better at everything they are.” “Nine? Terrific. We’ve never even seen a nine-tailed one.”

“Well, we may get to yet. They’re supposed to be able to cross over freely from one world to another. Oh, yes. And they’re specifically in charge of the ‘Kimon’ Gate between dimensions. Want to guess what that translates to?”

Casie stared at her. “Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes.”

“But why would Klaus take us all the way across the country, just to get in through a Demon Gate that’s run by fox spirits?”

“Sa…But when Matt told us you were headed to someplace near Sedona, that was really what decided Octiva and me.”

“Great.” Casie ran her hands through her hair and sighed. “Anything else?” she asked, feeling like a rubber band that had been stretched to its utmost.

“Only this, which ought to really bake your cookies after all we’ve been through. Some of them are good. Kitsune, I mean.”

“Some of them are good—good what? Good fighters? Good assassins?

Good liars?”

“No, really, Casie. Some of them are supposed to be like gods and goddesses who sort of test you, and if you pass the test they reward you.”

“Do you think we should count on finding one like that?”

“Not really.”

Casie dropped her head to the coffee table where Meredith’s printouts were scattered. “Meredith, seriously, how are we going to deal with them when we go through that Demon Gate? My Power is about as reliable as a low battery. And it’s not just the kitsune; it’s all the different demons and vampires—Old Ones, too! What are we going to do?”

She raised her head and looked deeply into the eyes of her friend—those dark eyes that she had never been able to classify as this color or that. To her surprise, Meredith instead of looking sober, tossed back the dregs of a Diet Coke and smiled.

“No Plan A yet?”

“Well…maybe just an idea. Nothing definite yet. What about you?” “A few that might qualify for Plans B and C. So what we’re going to do is what we always do—try our best and fall all over ourselves and make mistakes until you do something brilliant and save us all.” “Merry”—Meredith blinked. Casie knew why—she hadn’t used that diminutive for Meredith for more years than she could remember. None of the three girls liked pet names or used them. Casie went on very seriously, holding Meredith’s eyes, “There’s nothing I want more than to save everybody

—everybody—from these kitsune bastards. I’d give my life for Lucien and all of you. But…this time it may be somebody else who takes the bullet.” “Or the stake. I know. Octiva knows. We talked about it while we were flying here. But we’re still with you, Casie. You have to know that. We’re all

with you.”

There was only one way to reply to that. Casie gripped Meredith’s hand in both of hers. Then she let out her breath, and, like probing an aching tooth, tried to get news on a sore subject. “Does Matt—did he—well, how was Matt when you left?”

Meredith glanced at her sideways. Not much got past Meredith. “He seemed okay, but—distracted. He would go off into these fits where he’d just stare at nothing, and he wouldn’t hear you if you spoke to him.”

“Did he tell you why he left?”

“Well…sort of. He said that Klaus was hypnotizing you and that you weren’t—weren’t doing all you could to stop him. But he’s a boy and boys get jealous—”

“No, he was right about what he saw. It’s just that I’ve—gotten to know

Klaus a little better. And Matt doesn’t like that.”

“Um-hm.” Meredith was watching her from under lowered eyelids, barely breathing, as if Casie was a bird that mustn’t be disturbed or she’d fly away.

Casie laughed. “It’s nothing bad,” she said. “At least I don’t think so. It’s just that…in some ways Klaus needs help even more than Lucien did

when he first came to Fell’s Church.”

Meredith’s eyebrows shot up, but all she said was, “Um-hm.”

“And…I think that really Klaus’s a lot more like Lucien than he lets on.” Meredith’s eyebrows stayed up. Casie finally looked at her. She opened her mouth once or twice and then she just stared at Meredith. “I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” she said helplessly.

“If all this comes from less than one week riding in a car with him…then, yes. But we have to remember that women are Klaus’s specialty. And he thinks he’s in love with you.”

“No, he really is—” Casie began, and then she caught her lower lip between her teeth. “Oh, God, this is Klaus we’re talking about. I am in trouble.

”

“Let’s just watch and see what happens,” Meredith said sensibly. “He’s definitely changed, too. Before, he would have just told you that your friends

couldn’t come—and that was it. Today he stuck around and listened.” “Yes. I just have to—to be on my guard from now on,” Casie said, a little unsteadily. How was she going to help the child inside Klaus without getting closer to him? And how would she explain all she might need to do to Lucien? She sighed.

“It’ll probably be all right,” Octiva muttered sleepily. Meredith and Casie both turned to look at her and Casie felt a chill go up her spine. Octiva was sitting propped up, but her eyes were shut and her voice was indistinct. “The real question is: what will Lucien say about that night at the motel with

Klaus?”

“What?” Casie’s voice was sharp and loud enough to awaken any sleeper.

But Octiva didn’t stir.

“What happened what night at what motel?” Meredith demanded. When Casie didn’t answer immediately, she caught Casie’s arm and swung her so that they were face-to-face.

At last Casie looked at her friend. But her eyes, she knew, gave away nothing.

“Casie, what’s she talking about? What happened with Klaus?” Casie still kept her face perfectly expressionless, and used a word she’d learned just that night. “Sa…”

“Casie, you’re impossible! You’re not going to dump Lucien after you rescue him, are you?”

“No, of course not!” Casie was hurt. “Lucien and I belong together— forever.”

“But still you spent a night with Klaus where something happened between you.” “Something…I guess.”

“And that something was?”

Casie smiled apologetically. “Sa…”

“I’ll get it out of him! I’ll put him on the defensive….”

“You can make a Plan A and Plan B and all,” Casie said. “But it won’t help. Shinichi took his memories away. Meredith, I’m sorry—you don’t know

how sorry. But I swore that nobody would ever know.” She looked up at the taller girl, feeling tears pool in her eyes. Can’t you just—once—let me leave it that way?”

Meredith sank bank. “Casie Malrux, the world is lucky there is only one of you. You are the…” She paused, as if deciding whether to say the words or not. Then she said, “It’s time to get to bed. Dawn is going to come early and so is the Demon Gate.”

“Merry?”

“What now?”

“Thank you.”

Casie glanced over her shoulder at the backseat of the Prius. Octiva was blinking sleepily. Meredith, who’d gotten much less sleep but heard much more alarming news, was looking like a razor blade: keen, sharp as ice, and ready.

There was nothing else to see except Klaus with his paper bags on the seat beside him, driving the Prius. Out the windows, where an arid Arizona dawn should be blinding its way across the horizon, was nothing but fog.

It was frightening and disorienting. They had taken a small road off Highway 179 and, gradually, the fog had crept in, sending tendrils of mist around the car, and finally engulfing it whole. It seemed to Casie that they were being deliberately cut off from the old ordinary world of McDonald’s and

Target, and were crossing a border into a place they weren’t meant to know about, much less go.

There was no traffic in the other direction. None at all. And as hard as Casie peered out of her window, it was like trying to look through fastmoving clouds.

“Aren’t we going too fast?” Octiva asked, rubbing her eyes.

“No,” Klaus said. “It would be—a remarkable coincidence—if anyone

else were on the same route at the same time we are.” “It looks a lot like Arizona,” she said, disappointed.

“It may be Arizona, for all I know,” Klaus replied. “But we haven’t crossed the Gate yet. And this isn’t anywhere in Arizona you could just accidentally walk into. The path always has its little tricks and traps. The problem is that you never know what you’ll be facing.

“Now listen,” he added, looking at Casie with an expression she had gotten to know. It meant: I’m not joking around; I’m talking to you as an equal; I’m serious.

“You’ve gotten very good at showing only a human-sized aura,” Klaus said. “But that means that if you can learn one more thing before we go in, you can actually use your aura, make it do you some good when you want it to, instead of just hiding it until it pops up out of control and lifts threethousand- pound cars.”

“Like what kind of good?”

“Like what I’m going to show you. First of all just relax and let me control it. Then, little by little, I’ll slacken the controls and you’ll take them up. By the end, you should be able to send your Powers to your eyes—and see much better; to your ears—and hear much better; to your limbs—and move much

more quickly and precisely. All right?”

“You couldn’t have taught me this before we started on this little excursion?”

He smiled at her, a wild, reckless smile that made her smile, too, even if she didn’t know what it was about. “Until you showed how well you could control your aura throughout the path—the way here—I didn’t think you were ready,” he said bluntly. “Now I do. There are things in your mind just waiting to be unlocked. You’ll understand when we unlock them.”

And we unlock them—with what? A kiss? Casie thought suspiciously. “No. No. And that’s the other reason you’ve got to learn this. Your telepathy is getting out of hand. If you don’t learn how to keep from projecting your thoughts, you’ll never make it past the checkpoint at the Gate as a human.” Checkpoint. That sounded ominous. Casie nodded and said, “All right; what do we do?”

“What we did before. Like I said, relax. Try to trust me.”

He put his right hand just to the left of her breastbone, not touching the cloth of her deep gold top. Casie could feel herself flushing, and she wondered what Octiva and Meredith must think of this if they were watching.

And then Casie felt something else.

It wasn’t cold; it wasn’t heat, but it was something like the furthest extremities of both of them. It was pure Power. It would have knocked her over if

Klaus hadn’t been holding her by the arm with his other hand. She thought, he’s using his own Power to prime mine, to do something—

—something that hurt—

No! Casie tried, vocally and telepathically, to tell Klaus that the Power was too much, that it hurt. But Klaus ignored her pleas even as he ignored the tears that spilled onto her cheeks. His Power was leading hers now, painfully, throughout her body. It was in her bloodstream, dragging her own Power behind it like a comet’s tail. It was forcing her to take the Power to different parts of her body and let it build and build there, not letting her exhale it, not letting her move it on. I’m going to burst—

All this time her eyes had been fixed on Klaus’s, broadcasting her feelings to him: from indignant anger to shock to agonized pain—and now…to

…

Her mind exploded.

The rest of her Power went on circling, without causing any pain. Each new breath she drew added more Power to it, but it simply circulated through her bloodstream, not increasing her aura, but increasing the Power that was inside her. After two or three more quick breaths she realized that she was doing it effortlessly.

Now Casie’s Power wasn’t simply sliding around smoothly inside her, looking from the outside like any other human’s. It was also filling several burst swollen nodes inside her and where it did that, it changed things. She realized that she was looking at Klaus with round eyes. He might have told her about how this would feel, rather than letting her go into it blind.

You really are a total bastard, aren’t you? Casie thought, and, amazingly, she could feel Klaus receive the thought, and could feel his automatic response, which was pleased agreement, rather than otherwise. Then Casie forgot about him in the dawning of a new understanding. She was realizing that she could keep circulating her Power inside her, and even build it higher and higher, getting ready for a truly explosive burst, and show nothing of what it was doing on the surface.

And as for the nodes…

Casie looked around her at what a few minutes ago had been barren wilderness. It was like taking bullets of light through both her eyes. She was

dazzled; she was enthralled. Colors seemed to come to life in a painful glory. She felt that she could see much farther than she ever had, on and on into the desert, and at the same time, she could distinguish Klaus’s pupils from his irises.

Why, they’re both black, but different shades of black, she thought. Of course, they go together—Klaus would never have irises that didn’t complement his pupils. But the irises are more velvety, where his pupils are more silky and shiny. And yet it’s a velvet that can hold light inside it— almost like the night sky with stars—like those kitsune star balls that Meredith told me about.

Right now those pupils were wide and set unyieldingly on her face, as if Klaus didn’t want to miss a moment of her reaction. Suddenly, the corner of his lip quirked in a faint smile.

“You did it. You learned to channel your Power to your eyes.” He spoke in a bare whisper that she could never have detected before.

“And to my ears,” she whispered back, listening to the amazing symphony of tiny sounds around her. High in the air, a bat squeaked on a frequency too high for any ordinary human ear to notice. As for the fall of grains of sand around her, they formed something like a tiny concerto as they

struck rock and bounced with a tiny ping before falling to the ground below.

This is amazing, she told Klaus, hearing the smugness in her own telepathic voice. And I can talk to you this way any time now? She would have to watch out for that—telepathy threatened to reveal more than she might want to send to a recipient.

It’s best to be careful, Klaus agreed, confirming her suspicions. She’d sent more than she’d meant to.

But Klaus—can Octiva do this, too? Should I try to show her? “Who knows?” Klaus replied aloud, making Casie wince. “Teaching humans how to use Power isn’t exactly my forte.”

And what about my different Wings Powers? Will I be able to control them, now?

“About those I have absolutely no idea. I’ve never seen anything like them.” Klaus looked thoughtful for a moment and then shook his head. “I think you’d need someone with more experience than I have to learn to control those.” Before Casie could say anything else, he added, “We’d better get back to the others. We’re almost at the Gate.”

“And I suppose I shouldn’t be using telepathy then.”

“Well, it is a rather obvious giveaway—”

“But you’ll teach me later, won’t you? As much as you know about controlling Power?”

“Maybe your boyfriend should be doing that,” Klaus said almost roughly. He’s afraid, Casie thought, trying to keep her thoughts hidden under a wall of white noise so that Klaus wouldn’t pick them up. He’s just as afraid that he’ll reveal too much to me as I am afraid of him.

“All right,” Klaus said as he and Casie reached Octiva and Meredith.

“Now comes the hard part.”

Meredith looked up at him. “Now comes…?”

“Yes. The really hard part.” Klaus had finally unzipped his mysterious black leather bag. “Look,” he said in a bare murmur, “this is the actual Gate that we have to get through. And while we’re doing it, you can have all the hysterics you want because you’re supposed to be captives.” He pulled out a number of pieces of rope.

Casie, Meredith, and Octiva had drawn together in an automatic show of velociraptor sisterhood.

“What,” Meredith said slowly, as if to give Klaus the final benefit of some lingering doubt, “are those ropes for?”

Klaus put his head to one side in an oh-come-on gesture. “They’re for tying your hands.”

“For what?”

Casie was amazed. She had never seen Meredith so obviously angry. She herself couldn’t even get a word in. Meredith had walked up and was looking at Klaus from a distance of about four inches.

And her eyes are gray! some distant part of Casie’s mind exclaimed in astonishment. Deep, deep, deep, clear gray gray. All this time I’ve thought they were brown, but they’re not.

Meanwhile Klaus was looking faintly alarmed at Meredith’s expression. A T. rex would have looked alarmed at Meredith’s expression, Casie thought.

“And you expect us to walk around with our hands tied up? While you do what?”

“While I act as your master,” Klaus said, suddenly rallying with a glorious smile that was gone almost before it was there. “The three of you are my slaves.”

There was a long, long silence.

Casie waved the entire pile of objects away with a gesture. “We won’t do that,” she said simply. “We won’t. There has to be some other way—” “Do you want to rescue Lucien or not?” Klaus demanded suddenly. There was a searing heat in the dark eyes he had fixed on Casie.

“Of course I do!” Casie flashed back, feeling heat in her cheeks. “But not as a slave, dragged along behind you!”

“That’s the only way humans get into the Dark Dimension,” Klaus said flatly. “Tied or chained, as a vampire’s or kitsune’s or demon’s property.”

Meredith was shaking her head. “You never told us—”

“I told you that you wouldn’t like the way in!”

Even while answering Meredith, Klaus’s eyes never left Casie. Underneath his outward coldness, he seemed to be pleading with her to understand, she thought. In the old days, she thought, he’d have just lounged against a wall and raised his eyebrows and said, “Fine; I didn’t want to go

anyway. Who’s for a picnic?”

But Klaus did want them to go, Casie realized. He was desperate for them to go. He just didn’t know any honest way of conveying that. The only way he knew was to—

“You have to make us a promise, Klaus,” she said, looking him directly in the eyes. “And it has to be before we make the decision to go or not.” She could see the relief in his eyes, even if to the other girls it might seem as if his face was perfectly cold and impassive. She knew he was glad she wasn’t saying that her previous decision was final, and that was that. “What promise?” Klaus asked.

“You have to swear—to give your word—that no matter what we decide now or in the Dark Dimension, you won’t try to Influence us. You won’t put us to sleep by mind control, or nudge us to do what you want. You won’t use any vampire tricks on our minds.”

Klaus wouldn’t be Klaus if he didn’t argue. “But, look, suppose the time comes when you want me to do that? There are some things there that it might be better for you to sleep through—”

“Then we’ll tell you we’ve changed our minds, and we’ll release you from the promise. You see? There’s no downside. You just have to swear.” “All right,” Klaus said, still holding her gaze. “I swear I won’t use any kind of Power on your minds; I won’t Influence you in any way, until you ask

me to. I give my word.”

“Right.” At last Casie broke the stare down with the tiniest of smiles and nods. And Klaus gave her an almost imperceptible nod in return. She turned away to find herself looking into Octiva’s searching brown gaze.

“Casie,” Octiva whispered, tugging on her arm. “Come here for a sec, okay?” Casie could hardly help it. Octiva was strong as a small Welsh pony. Casie went, casting a powerless look over her shoulder at Klaus as she did.

“What?” she whispered when Octiva finally stopped dragging her.

Meredith had come along as well, figuring it might be sisterhood business. “Well?”

“Casie,” Octiva burst out, as if unable to hold the words back any longer, “the way you and Klaus act—it’s different than it used to be. You didn’t used to…I mean, what really happened between you two when you were alone together?”

“This is hardly the time for that,” Casie hissed. “We’re having a big problem here, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“But—what if—”

Meredith took up the unfinished sentence, pushing a dark lock of hair out of her eyes. “What if it’s something Lucien doesn’t like? Like ‘what happened with Klaus when you were alone in the motel that night’?” she finished, quoting Octiva’s words.

Octiva’s mouth fell open. “What motel? What night? What happened?” she almost shrieked, causing Meredith to try to quiet her and get bitten for her pains.

Casie looked at first one and then the other of her two friends—the two friends who had come to die with her if necessary. She could feel her breath come short. It was so unfair, but…“Can we just discuss this later?” she suggested, trying to convey with her eyes and eyebrows Klaus can hear us!

Octiva merely whispered, “What motel? What night? What—” Casie gave up. “Nothing happened,” she said flatly. “Meredith is only quoting you, Octiva. You said those words last night while you were asleep.

And maybe sometime in the future you’ll tell us what you’re talking about, because I don’t know.”

She finished by looking at Meredith, who just raised one perfect eyebrow. “You’re right,” Meredith said, completely undeceived. “The English language could use a word like ‘sa.’ It would make these conversations so much shorter, for one thing.”

Octiva sighed. “Well, then, I’ll find out for myself,” she said. “You may not think I can, but I will.”

“Okay, okay, but meanwhile does anyone have anything helpful to say about Klaus’s rope stuff?”

“Such as, do we tell him where to stuff it?” Meredith suggested under her breath.

Octiva was holding a length of rope. She ran a small, fair-skinned hand over it.

“I don’t think this was bought in anger,” she said, her brown eyes unfocusing and her voice taking on the slightly eerie tone it always did when she

was in trance. “I see a boy and a girl, over a counter at a hardware store— and she’s laughing, and the boy says, ‘I’ll bet you anything that you’re going to school next year to be an architect,’ and the girl gets all misty-eyed, and says, yes, and—”

“And that’s all the psychic spying I care to hear today.” Klaus had come right up to them without making a sound. Octiva jumped violently, and almost dropped the rope.

“Listen,” Klaus continued harshly, “just a hundred meters away is the final crossing. Either you wear these and you act like slaves or you don’t get in to help Lucien. Ever. That’s it.”

Silently, the girls conferred with their eyes. Casie knew that her own expression said clearly that she wasn’t asking either Octiva or Meredith to go with her, but that she herself was going if it required crawling behind Klaus on her hands and knees.

Meredith, looking directly into Casie’s eyes, slowly shut her own and nodded.