Page 45 of I Regret Nothing
Amduscias grabbed me and pulled me back.
“He’s shrunk himself to an ember and flown through the lock. He’s seeing if Kudan is inside. It’s the best way. Kudan won’t know he’s in there.”
Well, wasn’t that really fucking effective? Fergus wasn’t in there long. He came out, dragging Kudan with his hands in flame handcuffs and another around his neck.
“Any sudden movements, and I’ll burn your head off. Think it’s hot now? Try me.”
Kudan met my eyes and gave me a cruel smile.
“Sota. You won’t take me.”
Fergus twisted his arm.
“We have already taken you.”
A kindly looking older woman appeared in the hallway and stretched her hand out to Fergus.
“Oh, please! Let my grandson go. He means no harm.”
I transformed into my sacred bird and pecked her eyes out. That was no harmless woman. There was a mouth on the top of her head. She was aYamauba, and we didn’t need her here. If she knew we were here, then his other minions did too.
Roman licked the blood spatter from his face and frowned.
“She tastes bad.”
Skoll popped him on the back of the head.
“What have we told you about eating blood spatter? It’s gross, Roman.”
We didn’t have time to talk about Roman’s eating habits. Yokai started spilling into the hallway with knives. Fuck. They weren’t mighty compared to a Tengu, but they were tricky. I called to my sacred bird as Skoll shredded his clothing and turned into a wolf. Amduscias took up half the hallway as his black unicorn. Roman was bouncing around, ripping heads off.
Everyone was focusing on getting to Kudan. Fergus dragged him into the apartment and kicked the door shut. I could hear crashing in there as we battled the Yokai, who followed Kudan. He had a few foxes with him, and they had surrounded Skoll. Most of Kudan’s followers wereObake, meaning they could turn into animals, but you should never call them a simple shifter. It was more complicated than that.
Roman was eating all the big cats around him, and the sight was brutal. He was covered in blood and getting it on everyone else. Every single Yokai tried to stay away from Amduscias. They weretoroiif they followed Kudan, but they weren’t dumb enough to try to take on a massive demonic unicorn.
I spread my wings and swooped towards the foxes. I had a huge, sharp beak and deadly talons when I was my celestial bird. I jumped into the fray and started mauling everyone I could that wasn’t Skoll. Eyeballs and throats squelched and erupted under my deadly gifts.
I let out a shriek when the last body fell and shifted back. We all did. The crew renovating Scorchwood was going to have a huge mess to deal with. There was blood everywhere. The warden’s old apartment was deathly silent.
Skoll scowled and raked his bloody fingers through his hair.
“I forgot how miserable this place is.”
The heat was on in this prison area, so it wasn’t horribly cold, but it was still dire in here, even without the dead bodies. I threw the door open to the apartment. Fergus was sitting up and rubbing his head.
Kudan was gone. He portalled out. We lost him.
Chapter 38
Rei
T
his was a wonderful birthday, even if I was in prison. Faust didn’t make me work on his files, and he didn’t just bring me that delicious cupcake. He brought leftovers with him for lunch, and it was this fantastic goat cheese pizza. He cooked it himself too. I didn’t take Faust for a pizza-eating, cupcake delivering wolf, but I was here for it.
I was leaning back in my chair, patting a massive puppy belly.
“What else do you do besides cook amazing pizza? Tell me something no one else knows about you.”
