Page 17 of Gumiho Kiss
But to just stand here and let this one die ...
Hyun Soo lurched out of hiding and launched himself at the monster, sword aimed for its stomach.Maybe it was a horrible idea that would end in his death, but he couldn’t allow something so dangerous to remain in these woods, not when they were so close to the city—and Lady Lee’s residence.
The monster shrieked when his blade struck true, piercing the creature’s flesh and releasing a stream of silver blood.The monster fell back, eyes wide with shock, and a cold wind brushed over Hyun Soo’s open mouth.
“You will regret that.”The monster reached for him, then stopped with a wince.One thin hand went to its gushing wound, conflict written all over its fearsome face.It let out a dry laugh.“Do you truly think you can keep that from me?I’ll be back for what’s mine very soon, thief.”The fiend smiled, two sharp canines digging into its upper lip, then stepped back and vanished in a curtain of blue flame.
Hyun Soo stood motionless, trying to wrap his head around what had just happened.His eyes flicked to his sword, now stained with blood.That definitely wasn’t his imagination.
What had happened to the fox bead?He’d lost sight of it during his rush to protect the gumiho, but the monster certainly hadn’t taken it.Perhaps?—
Hyun Soo spun around, but his eyebrows bunched together at the empty stone behind him.
The gumiho was gone.
Chapter7
The Nurse
Chin Sun dragged herself back to the Lee residence and over the courtyard wall, relieved when Mr.Park didn’t come bounding out of the shadows.She’d managed to sneak away while he was busy with the goblin, but she’d nearly passed out on the trek back to town.
Her arm seemed to have stopped bleeding on its own, but she could still feel liquid trickling from the wound in her side.Never had she been more grateful for her healing abilities than she was tonight, for this was the closest she’d ever come to death.She didn’t even have the energy to clean herself up and simply collapsed on her sleeping mat, still clad in her black hanbok.
Sleep embraced her like a long-lost friend, welcoming her into its blissful darkness, yet even as Chin Sun faded, a pang of awareness went through her.She’d lost something far more precious than blood tonight.
* * *
The monster’s cold sneer burned the back of Chin Sun’s eyelids, forcing her awake before her body was ready to comply.She shivered, almost as frightened now as she’d been in its presence.She tried to pull herself up into a sitting position, but a wave of pain sent her falling back to the floor.
She’d never encountered a goblin before, but the blue fire around it had been a dead giveaway.They were shapeshifters like her, but they weren’t restricted in the forms they could take.Legend claimed their true shape was horned and one-legged, but Chin Sun wondered how anyone could know that for sure.
What could it have wanted with her bead?She’d not heard of a goblin showing interest in one, and though her memories of last night were hazy, she was certain that had been the monster’s target.
Chin Sun pressed her hand to her stomach, the place where her bead resided, then let out a yelp.
Where there should have been an outflow of warmth and tranquility there was only emptiness.Panic blanketed her soul like fog spreading over the mountains.The goblin must have gotten it.
She had to stay calm.If she figured out where the goblin had taken it, she could make a plan to steal it back.She’d always been able to sense the bead before.Maybe she still could.
Though she wasn’t exactly sure what she was doing, she pictured the bead in her mind and then extended the image outward, beyond herself.At first, she felt nothing, not even a flicker of her fox power, but then—like a firefly in the dark—she sensed the bead.
But as soon as she found it, she also felt the energy it was absorbing.And she instinctively knew it was human.
What?That meant it wasn’t the goblin who had taken it.Who could have?
She pressed her fingers to her temple.Someoneelsehadbeen there, someone who’d interrupted the goblin’s plan, but she couldn’t recall who.
Without her bead, Chin Sun couldn’t use her gumiho powers.Her strength, speed, heightened senses, and fox form were inaccessible.
But that meant she also couldn’t?—
Chin Sun pulled her hanbok away from her torso, sucking her teeth to hold back a cry.She stared at the gaping wound in her side with horror.She’d sustained stab wounds before, but her healing abilities had always lessened their impact.Not so this time.It was a miracle she hadn’t bled out, but her undergarments were soaked.There was no way she could hide this.
Unless ...She hadn’t wanted to do this before, but it seemed she had no choice now.
“Ah In,” she called, flinching at how much it hurt to speak.
Footsteps padded down the hallway.“Yeh, my lady?”came a voice from the other side of the screened door.
