Chapter 3
Agnes
I stared at the two men in front of me, my head still spinning.
I knew magic existed, knew monsters were real, but I'd never expected to meet one. The demon — I was sure now that he was an actual demon, and not just a man in costume — towered over us both, his obsidian skin gleaming in the dim moonlight that occasionally pierced through the thick clouds.
The other man might have been magical, too, but I supposed I was only thinking that because he was so damn handsome. He was Asian, with thick black hair, a straight nose, and sharp, defined cheekbones. His face was all hard planes, except for his lips, which were plump and pouty, giving him a boyish air. He wore a clean, well-tailored suit that looked like it had just been dry cleaned. It showed off his broad shoulders and lean build perfectly.
How was he so put together? We'd landed in wet grass, and my white dress was now wrinkled and damp. Zangraxath didn't look too mussed, but he was wearing black leather pants.
They were both staring at me, studying me.
Feeling self-conscious, I crossed my arms and tried to look tough. "Take me back to my party."
The demon stared down at his hand, opening and closing his fingers. Then he turned to the man in the suit. "Did you break my magic?"
"Break your magic? I tried to stop you from kidnapping this woman." The man tugged at his black hair and paced across the field a few meters, looking around, then turning back to me. "We'll get you home as soon as we can. The effects on his magic should wear off in a matter of days—"
"Days! I can't disappear for days! We were at a party!" I interrupted, rushing forward and jabbing a finger at his chest, which felt firm and muscular, even through the suit. A strange tingle ran up my hand the moment I touched him, and I yanked it back. Was that his magic, or something more simple? Attraction.
"What did you do to my magic?" Zangraxath said, still staring at his hand.
"I don't care. Take me home," I insisted.
Zangraxath let out a booming laugh that echoed across the open field. "You're a feisty little witch. I like you."
"I'm not a witch. I just have… witchy ancestors." Much to my grandmother's dismay, my sister and I both had a complete lack of magical talent. Spells didn't do shit — not that Tabitha had ever really tried — potions never worked, and my grandmother's precious grimoire now gathered dust in a closet.
Zangraxath frowned, eying me. "If you're not a witch, how did you summon me?"
My mind brought up an image of Tabitha puking in the cauldron, muttering gibberish. She couldn't have, could she? "I didn't summon you." It wasn't a lie, but it felt like one.
"Of course you did. I was hibernating, so I didn't travel of my own free will. Who would want to wake to this? I prefer to be woken by a dozen virginal sacrifices. Thank you very much."
The man in the suit cleared his throat. "Demons can be summoned if you know their secret name. It has occasionally happened when someone with the right latent powers said the right words. Read them in a book, or something along those lines."
Or drunkenly muttered them? Impossible.
"There's usually a potion involved. If you are a witch. Perhaps something happened by mistake?"
"Potion?" I frowned. I didn't remember any potions, but… no. That punch from my grandmother's cookbook couldn't possibly have been a potion. Could it?
Fuck. Did my sister have magic? I rubbed the bridge of my nose, trying to remember if Tabitha had done anything spell-like before barfing into the cauldron, but she'd just been muttering something incoherent about Sam and how annoying I was.
I turned to face them, hands on my hips, trying to look bold and strong as a strange mix of fear and jealousy made my insides feel wobbly. I'd worked so hard to learn to be a witch, and I'd disappointed everyone. Meanwhile, my sister had blown the whole thing off, and she was the one who had enough power to summon demons? Fuck that.
I turned to the man, meeting his eyes and ignoring the strange jolt of something like static electricity that sparked between us. "Okay, if I'm a witch, and he's a demon, what are you?"
"This dashing specimen before you is a kitsune," Zangraxath said. "You can tell by how pretty he is, but wait until you see how pretty he is in his fox form. All those tails swishing around… Are you an arctic fox or a—"
"Shut it," the other guy snapped. I tilted my head, eyeing the man up and down. Kitsune? He looked like a normal — albeit devastatingly attractive — guy to me. No furry ears or multiple tails in sight. Just piercing dark eyes, sharp cheekbones, and lips that… I shut down that thought before it could go anywhere.
He flashed a badge at me, too quick for me to really read it, then held out his hand. "Agent Inoue. And I'm only half kitsune. On my father's side."
"Agnes Tuttle. What are you an agent of? I didn't quite read the badge."
"I'm a guardian with the G.U.I.L.D. It's an agency devoted to maintaining the separation of supernatural beings from the Earthly Realm and monitoring those who choose to live there. It stands for—"
"G.U.I.L.D. — Geeks United in Locking Up Demons!" Zangraxath interrupted gleefully.
Agent Inoue rolled his eyes, his exasperation obvious. "That doesn't even spell 'Guild,' you overgrown goat." He turned to me, his expression softening. "It's actually the Guardians of Unearthly Immigration Law and Defense. We're responsible for monitoring inter-dimensional travel."
Zangraxath looped an elbow over Agent Inoue's shoulders. "Unearthly Immigration? Seems a little forced, don't you think? They could have come up with a different acronym, but they thought 'the Guild' sounded good." He did air quotes around "the Guild."
My heart stopped. "Inter-dimensional travel? Like, travel between different worlds?"
"Yes. We keep magical creatures out of the Earthly Plane, where they tend to do more harm than good to the human population. Demons, especially, have a reputation for causing problems. Wars, famine, that sort of thing." He shot a pointed look at Zangraxath, who snorted. "Like our friend the Destroyer here."
"I have never caused a famine! Not even once! Eating is my second favorite hobby," Zangraxath gasped, looking horrified. "Besides, how would I do that?"
"With your powers?" Agent Inoue countered, squaring off against the demon.
Zangraxath stuck his tongue out. It was long and forked, and his tail twitched behind him. How had I thought he was in a costume? He had all the parts of a true demon, including those big, curved horns. I wondered if they made his head feel heavy.
"While my powers are quite impressive, they do not include destroying food. Or whatever you'd do to cause a famine. Anyway, you two sort this out. I have to pee." With that, he turned and stalked off into the darkness.
Agent Inoue squared his shoulders and shouted after the demon. "My specialty is in artifacts and objects, and I've read all the texts. I know the harm your kind can do!"
My blood ran cold as I wondered what the demon was capable of. That thought made me hyper-aware of Zangraxath's size and strength. What had he destroyed? Cities? Civilizations? My imagination ran wild with terrifying possibilities. Slowly, I moved so that Agent Inoue stood between me and Zangraxath. I hugged myself against the chilly breeze. Was it getting colder?
"We should stick together," Agent Inoue said, his eyes still on the demon. "I need to bring him back to The Above."
"So, um," I ventured, "which realm are we in right now?" I glanced around nervously, half-expecting to see dragons or unicorns materializing from the shadows. The mountains loomed in the distance, their silhouettes unfamiliar.
"We're still on the Earthly Plane," Agent Inoue announced, sniffing the air, his brow furrowed.
"You can tell that from the smell?"
He ignored my question and looked around, though it was so dark that I struggled to imagine he could see anything. "We are not very close to where we started. I used magic to disrupt Zangraxath's portal, but apparently it glitched. It was enough to stop us from returning to The Above, but we still traveled, just somewhere unexpected." He pulled out his phone and swiped it open, frowning down at the screen.
"Oh! Phones! Duh!" I exclaimed, fumbling to retrieve my own phone from the pocket tucked into my skirt and swiped at the screen. "We can just call for—" The words died in my throat as I stared at the "No Service" message mocking me from the top of the display. I held my phone higher in the air and started to walk around, but there were zero bars. Not even a hint of a signal. Where the hell were we?
Agent Inoue's deep voice cut through my rising panic, the rumble of it soothing in a way I couldn't explain. "I'm not getting a cellular signal either," he said, a hint of frustration coloring his usually calm tone. "But for my job, I keep extensive maps loaded into memory, and I still have a GPS signal. It looks like we're somewhere in the Swiss Alps. There's a small village about 30 kilometers away."
"Switzerland?" I squeaked, my mind reeling. "But that's impossible! We were just in Oregon, and—" I stopped short, remembering the portal and everything else that had happened. Maybe 'impossible' wasn't the right word. "30 Kilometers?"
"Don't worry, we'll figure it out, Agnes. Ms. Tuttle." Agent Inoue said, meeting my eyes carefully. I studied his soft brown eyes, trusting him a bit more than I should have. There was something earnest and true about him.
"You can call me Agnes. What's your given name? If that's okay to ask?"
He frowned, then shrugged. "Touji," he said.
I beamed. "Touji. I like that." That made him duck his chin and blush, which was so cute. I shivered and looked out towards the faint glow in the sky that I hoped was the rising sun. "This was so not how I'd pictured my first trip to Europe."
Zangraxath's deep, rumbling voice suddenly cut through my thoughts. "Can we get going? I'm famished after my hibernation."
Remembering his threat to devour me, I took another step away from the big demon, flipping on my phone's flashlight, and spinning in a slow circle, looking for a trail or a road, or anything. The sky was pitch black, with no stars, which I supposed meant it was cloudy, but off on the horizon, there was a spot that looked a little lighter. "It was like 9 PM when we left Oregon. That means it's... what, stupid early in the morning here? I think the sun might come up soon? We should be able to walk out of here once we can see, don't you think? Surely there's a cute little village nearby, with Swiss chocolate and fresh baked bread? Oh, and fondue!" My mouth watered at the thought.
"I'm a carnivore," Zangraxath said. "I don't eat bread."
Touji's eyes narrowed at the demon, his face turning hard. "Stop scaring her."
"Yes, telling her I'm a carnivore is terrifying."
"Threatening to devour her is." Touji took another step closer to the demon.
"Guys, you don't need to fight," I said, but they were nose to nose now, in a ridiculous show of male force. Touji was fit and tall, but Zangraxath was huge. I didn't think Touji had a chance.
Zangraxath's lips spread into a sneer, his fangs glinting in the dim moonlight, and I wondered if I was going to get out of this alive as their verbal sparring escalated.
"I'm an ancient demon. You don't tell me what to do or say, little fox," Zangraxath growled.
"Well, I'm an elite agent of the Guild, so I hate to break it to you, but I have jurisdiction over what you do or say. Especially if it's a crime."
"I'm outta here," Zangraxath said. "Good luck finding your way home.