Chapter 2
Touji
Halloween was the worst — who didn’t hate a day past an endless stream of photos of humans in tacky costumes? Seriously, how many “sexy nurses” did the world need?
I would do anything to escape the mind-numbing boredom of scrolling through social media, hunting for signs of otherworldly mischief, but it was Halloween, and I had no choice. Every Halloween, our agency went on high alert, and all agents were called in. Even the geeks that worked in antiquities recovery.
Some theorized that the veil between realms was weaker as we approached Samhain, but I knew the truth: when all the humans dressed like monsters, it was far easier for the actual monsters to come out to play. Though this sexy trend might disrupt that. A real banshee or werewolf stood out a little too much when everyone was using the holiday as an excuse to wear fewer clothes. I leaned in closer and narrowed my eyes at the screen. Fuck, was that a sexy lobster? How even?
I shook off my confusion and scrolled past the human woman with a weird choice of costume. She didn’t have horns, and I was looking for horns. Or fangs, wings, multiple arms. Or even some magical being sneaking by with a stolen relic from the museum theft I was investigating.
Most of the time, I handled cases involving thefts of antiquities, but it was Halloween, and all-hands-on-deck at the Guild. Today, there were monsters hidden in plain sight, and I needed to make sure they stayed hidden.
The shrill ring of my cell phone cut through my silent office. I snatched it up, grateful for the distraction.
“Agent Inoue,” I answered.
“Inoue. We’ve got a situation.” Anya’s clipped tone crackled through the speaker. Even after decades of friendship, her voice still sent a little shiver down my spine. Must be a leftover instinct from my days as her apprentice.
I sat up straighter. “A lead on the location of the Mask of Himori?”
“What? No. I don’t even know what that is.”
“One of the mystical artifacts stolen from the Japanese National Museum? The case I’ve been working on for two weeks?”
She snorted. “This is serious, Inoue. Sensors are showing evidence of a demon crossing over without proper paperwork. It was a summoning. I want you to go in alone, try not to cause a fuss or draw attention to what’s happening.”
I couldn’t hold back an incredulous snort. “A summoning? There hasn’t been one of those in years. Are you sure the sensors aren’t malfunctioning?”
“When have my sensors ever been wrong?” she snapped.
I sighed, scratching the back of my head. “Isn’t there a demon-trapping specialist around? Or, you know, anyone but me.”
Anya snorted. “You don’t even know the stress I’ve been through tonight. I sent the alpha team after a sea monster in Scotland, and the beta team is tracking a Sasquatch family terrorizing Michigan. Everyone is busy. Believe me, I’d pick someone else if I could. You’ll piss yourself when you see this guy.”
I groaned, leaning back in my chair. “Fuck you.”
She only laughed. “You know I love you, Inoue, but your fixation on artifacts has you going soft. You need to get out in the field, meet some monsters. Get out into the world and kick some ass before you forget how to.”
“I can kick ass.” I knew I sounded like a petulant child, but there was no helping it. “But my specialty is the smuggling of rare artifacts and antiquities. Not demons.”
“Ha! Nothing more antique and rare than a three thousand year old flesh eater.” Anya cackled at her own joke.
Flesh eater? I swallowed hard, then cleared my throat. “Fine. But I work alone. Ever since—”
“I know, I know. Susan is really sorry about the whole thing with the tentacles and the bubblegum, you know. Maybe you could find it in your heart to forgive her.”
“I’ll think about it.” That was an absolutely not.
“Great! Head to the portal. I’ll message you the details. These guys should go willingly, and then you can go back to chasing the Chalice of Mercedes.”
“The Mask of Himori.”
The correction fell on dead ears because she had already hung up on me, and I shook my head, then stood and pocketed my phone, then shrugged into my suit jacket and gathered my things with a sigh, opening the safe where I kept the artifacts I used for protection and counter spells. I’d never met a demon — they were rare enough that most people hadn’t — but as far as I knew, they were trouble. More trouble than Susan and her bubble gum. They had a reputation for mischief and hijinks. And for starting wars. For ancient creatures, they were impulsive, and often not very smart, as far as I could tell. Yet somehow the himbos of the monster world managed to stay alive for millennia.
Biting my bottom lip, I slipped the ring containing the Stone of Aetheria onto my right hand ring finger. It had protective qualities, and that couldn’t hurt, right? I pocketed the Amulet of Kailani in case I needed invisibility, then hesitated, before grabbing a small leather pouch. The painstakingly crafted timepiece inside was thought to have properties that stopped certain types of magic, especially demon magic.
As Anya messaged me a little more information on the demon that had set off the sensor, my mind raced. A demon summoning on Halloween? At least the demon wouldn’t stand out in a crowd of people in costume. As a shifter, I traveled light, because if I shifted into my other form, there was no room for guns and knives. I loved things that could be worn, and that had spawned my interest in artifacts.
I stood, straightening my suit, adjusting the charmed cufflinks that made sure my outfit was always neat and clean, and left my office. The hallways of the Guild offices did nothing to reveal our purpose — all beige linoleum and off-white paint. Past my office, there was a room full of nondescript cubicles, where junior agents were fielding phone calls about sightings.
Nodding to a coworker who looked about as thrilled to be here as I felt, I approached an average-looking door. The only thing distinguishing it was the soft glow emanating from beneath.
Pushing it open, I walked over to Harold, a bog monster that served as our portal guard. He hunched over a glowing console, tentacles flying across multiple keyboards.
“Evening, Harold,” I called out. “Got some coordinates for you.”
Harold’s bulbous eyes swiveled in my direction. “Touji! My favorite kitsune!” He made an expression that may have been flirtatious, but it was tough to tell, what with the slime. “You’re travelling as a human? I’ll never understand why you keep those pretty fox tails hidden away.”
I smirked. “Don’t work with the suit.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m sure the right tailor could handle it.”
“Focus, Harold, there’s a demon on the loose.”
“Right. Well, Anya sent me the sighting info. They appear to be at a party. The sensors show there are lots of humans in the vicinity, as well as several witches, but none of the psychic readings indicate that people are worried or frightened. Here’s hoping they believe he’s a guy in a wacky costume!”
“Agreed,” I said, nodding. “That would make this a quick in-and-out job.”
“One day, I’d like to go on Halloween. I want to see what the Earthly Realm is like, you know? Do you think I could pass?” He raised his tentacles, waving them.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry, man. As handsome as you are, I don’t think the humans will buy all those tentacles as a costume.”
He trilled a laugh. “Ah well. Perhaps I can find a witch with an enchanted object that makes me look human. I’ll have to avoid shaking anyone’s hand, right?”
“Good call.”
“Let’s get you to that demon! Onto the platform!”
I followed his instructions, and as Harold worked his portal magic, I braced myself. No matter how many times I did this, interdimensional travel always left me feeling like I had traveled through a mystical blender. The Guild offices were located in a realm called The Above, though it had stronger connections to The Earthly Plane and The Below than most locations. No one but agents really knew what we did, or how our technology worked, and we kept it like that on purpose. An air of mystery was sometimes all you needed to inspire people to complete their immigration paperwork.
Technically, magical creatures could cross to the Earthly Plane. But they needed to file the correct paperwork, and their activities were closely monitored. No one could travel without the proper protection spells and cloaking devices that enabled monsters to blend into the human population undetected.
The familiar sensation of being stretched and compressed simultaneously washed over me. When I blinked my eyes open, I found myself in the dark shadows between two houses in a quaint suburban neighborhood. Jack-o’-lanterns grinned from porches and fake cobwebs adorned bushes. The air held the crisp bite of autumn, carrying the scent of fallen leaves and distant bonfires.
I took a moment to orient myself, my fox senses picking up the faintest traces of demonic scent. That’s when I saw it—or rather, them. They were pretty damn hard to mist.
A massive demon, easily seven feet tall with skin like polished obsidian, sprinted past me. Over his shoulder was slung a petite blonde human woman dressed as an angel, her white costume wings flapping with every step. He had a long, sinuous tail that whipped out behind him as it ran.
“I’m going to devour you, little morsel!” The demon’s booming voice echoed down the empty street.
This guy had been watching too many B-grade horror flicks, because what the hell? I cursed under my breath and took off after them. My kitsune blood made me a fast runner, spry and agile like a fox, so I caught up to them quickly.
“Stop right there!” I shouted. “You’re in violation of interdimensional law!”
The demon skidded to a halt, whirling around to face me. His yellow eyes widened, and I mentally tried to sort through the catalog of demons I’d memorized years ago, in the academy, wondering who he was. Demons could live forever, but they rarely reproduced, and there weren’t many of them. Plus, they all got in enough trouble that the Guild kept extensive files on them.
The woman over his shoulder let out a muffled yelp, her legs kicking uselessly in the air.
“I am Zangraxath the Destroyer!” the demon bellowed, his voice reverberating through the quiet neighborhood.
I frowned. “Zangraxath? I thought you were hibernating.”
“The Destroyer! And I’m clearly not hibernating now.”
Great. One of those types. I opened my mouth to retort, but Zangraxath was already chanting, his words carrying an otherworldly resonance that made my skin crawl as his fingers traced an elegant pattern in the air, outlined by sparks of his magic. A glowing orange window materialized in the middle of the street, its edges shimmering and pulsing with arcane energy.
“Oh no, you don’t,” I growled, sprinting towards them. “Kidnapping humans is illegal, you overgrown Hellspawn!”
I saw Zangraxath start to slip through the portal, his muscular form rippling as he began to vanish into the swirling orange vortex. Panic surged through me. No way was I letting this bastard escape with a human hostage. That was a surefire way to get demoted to the print room.
I reached into my pocket for the little pouch, turning the knob that I was pretty sure activated the timepiece’s magic. Maybe. Fine, I didn’t actually know how the artifact worked, but I hurled it towards the hole the demon was carving between dimensions, anyway. The portal wobbled and changed color, but Zangraxath was already halfway through it with the woman.
Fuck. He was getting away.
I ran, diving through the glowing portal after them. My body tingled as I passed through the magical threshold, and I grunted as I slammed into the hard wall of muscle that was Zangraxath’s back. We tumbled through the air in a tangle of limbs. My keen fox senses perked up, and I knew instantly that we’d travelled somewhere, though perhaps not where he’d intended. That part was unclear, since I didn’t know his intentions.
I went rolling across the damp grass, and when I landed, I felt around until my hand landed on the leather pouch. Had the timepiece done its job?
It hadn’t stopped the magic completely, because we’d travelled somewhere. The air had changed. It was darker, cooler, with a crisp bite that made my nose twitch. But we were still on the Earthly Plane.
“Shit,” I muttered, scrambling to my feet and brushing grass from my clothes. My acute fox senses were telling me we were definitely not in a small town in Oregon anymore. The scent on the wind was different, and the thin feel of the air screamed high altitude. We were in the mountains somewhere, close to the tree line.
Clouds obscured the stars and moon, and there were no lights in sight, leaving our surroundings so dark that it was difficult to see much of anything. And that could only mean one thing — we were far enough from civilization that not even a single home or streetlight was in view.
“Where... where’s my neighborhood?”
At the sound of her voice, I turned to see the human woman stumbling to her feet. Her costume wings were bent at odd angles, and her halo was hanging lopsided.
“Great question,” I muttered, my gaze zeroing in on the hulking form of Zangraxath. The demon was brushing off his pants with an almost comical delicacy, given his massive size. “Care to explain where you’ve taken us, big guy?”
He threw back his head and let out a booming laugh that echoed across the empty landscape. “You tell me, little fox,” he said, his voice dripping with amusement. “I opened a portal to my house in the Above, not to... whatever this place is.”
“Well,” I said. “Isn’t this just fan-fucking-tastic?”