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Chapter Twenty-Five

Frightened, I stood aainstKu’Sox’s presence Clearly he wasn’t er than I’d expect from a demon they had imprisoned in the next reality over, even if the de bets The drums had stopped, and loud conversation had taken its place I was scared, but Neas sht from where it had been, pushed over when I’d found ht, Dali took a dra to his elbohen he held his hands up in placation "Cal all your asses out of here!" he bellowed, and the noise was cut by about half "I agree that the question of her status should be settled" He smiled cattily at Al "Isn’t that why you’re here?"

Newt toasted me to show her support as Dali smiled at me with false benevolence My eyes closed as I finally understood as going on My standing was in question and needed to be settled before a gathering of my peers If I wasn’t a demon, I was a familiar And if I was a fa I wasn’t a deh the cah-hewn table between us His steel gray hair was slicked back and he earing a , he looked ust, not a flicker of concern that I’d alaritaville My pulse raced as I recognized the barely leashed hatred froue ai et aith it-so I was safe Sort of Demons imps, more inclined to take their rivals doith red tape than a physical approach They only beat up people they knew couldn’t fight back

Trent wanted ht as Ku’Sox started de up events that had happened thousands of years ago and still er Why should I curse Ku’Sox to be stuck in the sa out Ku’Sox as I thought a little ht I could, then I wouldn’t be stuck here at all I’d still be shunned in reality, but there ays around that Right? Right?

Regaining my ability to be in reality, even in snatches, was a s in the ever-after without ever seeing the sun, Jenks, or Ivy again, I fastened on it like a lifeline My foot twitched, and Newt slid her black-eyed gaze to ht IEveryone else was focused on Ku’Sox, raving about purity and half-breeds polluting the genetic pool

My eyes fell frohtly tapped a line, glad ive me away The barest hint of ever-after seeped into h to be noticed by anyone, but I was sure Newt felt it She was jiggling her bejeweled foot, black eyes edged in kohl sliding fromher anger

My knees obbling, and an odd feeling was sifting throughin my ears or soul Slowly I searched my theoretical self, surprised when I could feel the curse Trent had put on reasy feel of the elven aftertaste made it easy to sense, like a faint ache Even odder was that the curse sees of iron, all of the themselves to orient on Ku’Sox, like a flower to the sun It had been created for him, like the focus had been created for the Weres It wanted to go back to hiht be able to do this

My shoulders stiffened, and I scrambled to remember the words Trent had used to tap into the communal collective and set the curse One phrase to transfer it, one to sever the bond and prevent it fro punishesturing as he ned athered the curse together in my chi-every last bit-and held it inlike I was holding an exploded bomb

Si peccabas, poenam meres That was the invocation phrase I knew it I could do this!

"That is not a de in a fla his purple robe furl "And it should be destroyed!"

"Prove it!" I shouted, lunging The curse glowed like black fire in rabbed the plate of cheese and yanked it to safety Al’s wineglass wasn’t so lucky, and the wine spilled like blood over the rough wood The candle flared, and I hit the hanging la de benches and the sudden pulls on ley lines spun through lass

Ku’Sox’s eyes widened, and then I had him, my hand around his throat as we crashed to the floor

Si peccabas, poena my freedom in Ku’Sox’s shocked expression

Elation filled me as I felt the painful sensation of pinpricks in reverse as the curse left , and I writhed as the curse soaked into Ku’Sox while he screarabbed the back ofme away "Get her off me!"

"No!" I howled I wasn’t done yet I hadn’t fixed it into hiht frantically, and my eyes widened as I felt the curse stretch between us like a rubber band But with a snap that made Newt jump, it pulled fro toIt hadn’t worked!

"No, no, no!" I raged as the rising ihed, thinking I was sio, you idiots!" I’d done it wrong! I’d done so or it would have worked and I would have had hiainst hiled for purchase "No fighting in Dalliance, Rachel," he crooned, and I shoved his hand off ain

"You see otten rid of that headdress thing, now broken on the floor "If you ever touch ain, I’ll lay you out!" I threatened hihed Except for Al, standing nervously beside me, and Neho had felt what I had tried to do Dali was at the outskirts, knowing so had happened but not what And Ku’Sox, of course, as sallow faced, clearly knowing how close it had been Why hadn’t it worked?

Slowly Ku’Sox regained his poood-natured offers of assistance, but he would lances, equal a in hiirl, and I knew he’d been terrified

He ought to be afraid I’d almost had the perv Noould be harder He arned, and I’d lost my easy chance "You dare to call me less of a deer with nothing between us but air "I’ of a la at hio!"

The surrounding jeers and calls froh, and Ku’Sox frowned as the helping hands fell away In the distance, I heard a fox bark, and the puddle of light grehen so lamp and relit it with a tweak on a line

"An elf?" Dali was leaning casually against a support pole "Ku’Sox, you owe your freedole I’d been going for, but itas he bent to beat the dust fro atup like a demon to further his pathetic attempt at familiar procure , you little zit pus I’ artist than you’ll ever be, and I know talent when I see it Rachel may be born from a witch, but she is a demon as much as you are a pain in the ass with the social skills of a dog Still eating souls, Ku’Sox? That’s like eating God’s shit"

"You know nothing!" Ku’Sox shouted, red faced as the surrounding deer than all of you! I can take this world and destroy it! Open a hole to reality and drain this world to nothing until you’re buet sucked into oblivion!"

The conversations stilled, and Dali cleared his throat in the sudden silence Ku’Sox stopped, the he as he dared anyone to cooat-slitted eyes Every demon in the place wore hatred and fear on his shadowed, candlelit, ruddy face And that, of course, hy they didn’t kill hiht destroy the ever-after, laughing all the way to the sunny side of reality and his survival Their prodigal son was fucking insane

"You’re not stronger than me," Newt said into the quiet, and Ku’Sox’s eyes narrowed

"Aren’t you dead yet, you old hag?" he grumbled

The demons started to whisper, and Dali’s slippers were a soft hush on the reeds as he ca at me with speculation, and now I knehy Is she the one? Is it her? What he meant was, am I a demon? Can I kill Ku’Sox?

"Test-tube brat," Al said as he stood his eical ht be a better demon than you"

"Her?" Ku’Sox exclaimed, and Al simpered at him "I’m the way back to our rebirth, and you will respect that! Me! Not her! She’s born froed witch!"

Newt shifted coyly on her cushion, the only one who hadn’t left her seat throughout the entire scene "No, poor boy, you are a mistake we loved too much to put down I still think you would have turned out fine if Dali hadn’t dropped you when you were but a blastocyst"

"You are deluding yourselves," Ku’Sox said, frowning "I am your rebirth"

"My dao off now to brood about world do back to their tables laughed, and Ku’Sox flushed in anger

"So with you, oblet of wine in her hand as demons drifted away and the tension eased "In your head Even demons do not eat souls Is it because you’re worried that you don’t have one?"

"I have a soul," Ku’Sox said with a scowl, but I wondered

"Of course you do Otherwise, you wouldn’t have an aura," Newt said brightly "Coht, sitting down between Al and Newt, leaving Ku’Sox to stand by hiain, "isn’t a demon I need proof We all do" He looked over the assembled demons There were more people now than there were tables Theythe Mesopotamian darkness with softable to invoke de demonic"

This last had been aimed at me, and my hands clenched in my lap "Like rip your heart out? Come a little closer"

"Rachel," Al said as he reached across the table and patted my shoulder a little too hard God, I felt like I was one of two little kids on a playground

From her cushion, Newt cleared her throat "Rachel shoulddeh of excitement I turned to her, surprised You want me to do what?

"Be reasonable, Newt," Al protested, his face suddenly pale "She’s only a few hours old I haven’t had ti yet"

"Doesn’t rape with an odd precision "If she’s a demon, she can do it"

Al looked deathly worried, and I watched Dali energetically stride to the jukebox and press his hands to it, invoking who knehat as it glowed a hazed black "Splendid idea," he was"Rachel, what do you want to call it?"

"Call it?" At a loss, I looked around the table, seeing worry on Al’s face and satisfaction on Ku’Sox’s "Call what?"

"Give us a"Only a dey to make a tulpa construct this size One that anyone can share"

Oh My God I looked at the fake restaurant, the fire, the stars, the s like this?" I squeaked "Are you nuts? I don’t kno to do that!"

"She admits she’s not a delass becaainst the raised voices around us

"Lacking a skill doesn’t translate into a lack of ability," he growled, but the de an open space of sorts, wanting me to try

Newt’s eyes narrowed "Only a de tulpa, and only a male demon can fix it into reality I say it’s a fair test Al, put your money where your mouth is Or should I say where your student is"

I looked wildly fro as I realized why Newt had "apologized" She had killed everyone who could do this-except herself I could not make this! It was immense!

"Of course you can," Newt said as she leaned towarda construct is easy Every one in that box there was made by my sisters, and they weren’t nearly as clever as you" Newt raised her goblet in salute "That’s why I could kill them, you see"

My heart pounded and I sat down before I passed out "Uh, hed, but Newt poured her wine into lass "That’s not why I killed them But that’s why Ku’Sox trickedtulpa, one that can be stored and lived in, one must have the ability to safely hold more than one’s own soul Demons can’t do it A deene that they don’t have"

I listened to crickets that had turned to dust thousands of years ago on a continent I’d never set foot on "You’re able to hold a soul so you can gestate a baby," I guessed, and she nodded, soleht You need to prove yourself, and now is as good a ti in doubt Don’t you agree, Al?" she added lightly

Al looked sick "She’s rather stupid yet"

"I am not!" I exclaimed, and he pointed at me

"There, see? She is"

Neaved a hand at Dali, still standing by the jukebox "Even a dunce can have a baby All it needs is staination Rachel?"

"I aain

"Shut up," Al hissed as Ku’Sox gleefully ate someone else’s cheese "You don’t knohat you’re doing"

"So teach ht back "Thanks to you, I can’t be a witch any God, as I doing? I only knew that I had to be soht now, this was it

Al stared atin his eyes "I can’t teach you this"

"I can," Newt said, and my breath came fast

Crap on toast