Chapter Twenty-Nine Kasu
At a MERE six feet tall, Lord Cobalt was the shortest of all the demon lords.
His appearance reminded Kasu of the way mortal children would pretend to be ghosts by throwing a bedsheet over their heads.
A deep-blue robe covered the demon all the way down to his knobbly knees.
The only other visible part of him were his bare feet, which looked human enough, though they were strangely hairy.
“You’re Lord Cobalt?” Arun stirred. “You… What did you do to my mother?”
“Do I know you?” Lord Cobalt squatted in front of their cages.
Arun suddenly hurled himself against the iron bars. “At the last meat auction, you sold a lady from the heavens. What happened to her?”
Lord Cobalt held a pair of long, ribbon-like arms to his face, his fingers covering where his mouth would be if not for the sheet on top of his head. He giggled. “What do you think happens at an auction? She was sold.”
“To who?” Arun ground out between clenched teeth.
The demon seemed to stare at him, though Kasu had no idea if Lord Cobalt could see through the sheet. She didn’t know if he had eyes at all.
“My stomach is rumbling.”
Without warning, another pair of ribbon-like arms shot out from underneath Lord Cobalt’s sheet, stretched across the length of the room and grabbed the cage with the Pale Lady’s servant.
Like a magic trick, both the cage and the ghost disappeared beneath Lord Cobalt’s robe. Kasu caught a glimpse of the demon’s body – an immense mouth that opened into an inky expanse of darkness. A void filled with fangs. A chasm of teeth.
The ghost’s screams were cut short by an awful crunching sound. When Lord Cobalt was done, he sat down and gave a loud burp.
“Disgusting. You ghosts taste utterly vile.”
“If we offend your taste buds so much, then let us go.” Kasu scowled.
“Oh no, no, no! But you are to be sold at my new auction. Meat—”
“—for the Masses. You said that already.” Kasu gripped the bars of her cage.
“But the protestors want access to rare meat that is only offered to the most powerful of demons. The body parts of saints and chimeras – holy meat, rare meat, the kind you can’t get from any old stall – not plain old ghosts like us. ”
“You think the idiotic masses will know what the flesh of a mortal princess tastes like? Those uncultured swine wouldn’t recognize gourmet if it hit them over the head!
No, no, no! If we just dress you up a little – stick a fish tail on you and call you a mermaid, perhaps – they’ll never know the difference. ”
Kasu’s cheeks flushed with indignation. Being sold and eaten was bad enough, but to know that Lord Cobalt intended to use her to swindle others? It was humiliating. How dare they force her to take part in such fraud!
“What about that lady you sold at the last meat auction? The one from the heavens?” Arun shook the bars of his cage.
Lord Cobalt ignored him. Kasu needed something to grab his attention again. Her heart was pounding, but she pressed on. There was no need to be afraid. The heavens were on her side.
“L–Lord Cobalt!” Her trembling voice boomed through the room. “How dare you engage in such vile crimes! You should know full well that kidnap and murder are against the Heavenly Principles. And that’s not all! I know you sent men to break into Lady Camellia’s chambers a few nights ago!”
Lord Cobalt stopped muttering. Slowly, he turned to his servants.
“You were spotted? You never told me that.”
The ghost who had shoved Kasu into her cage quivered. “N–no, Lord Cobalt. We didn’t—”
He never got the chance to apologize. Lord Cobalt’s ribbon-like arms shot out from beneath his robe and tore the ghost limb from limb, stuffing each body part into the void of his mouth hidden beneath his sheet.
The others trembled, but Kasu couldn’t afford to look away from the grisly scene. She gritted her teeth and kept yelling.
“What were you after? Was it the elixir?”
Lord Cobalt lifted the bottom of the sheet and a grinning, oozing darkness spilled out from underneath.
“Ah, yes, Lady Camellia’s latest elixir!
A potion that can make one relive their worst memories over and over again.
Exquisite!” He gave a longing sigh. “It can turn ghosts feral and drive even the gods mad. Delightful! Pain is the best marinade. Imagine what simple, disgusting ghost flesh might taste like after just one drop of her elixir! Oh, the mere thought of it makes me so hungry!”
A set of arms grabbed another cage. Another captive disappeared into the hungry chasm of teeth.
“And besides, I deserve some compensation! Lady Camellia said if I caught that heavenly lady for her to use in her potion, she’d give me the leftovers – and yet, here I am! Not even a toe bone to my name!” Lord Cobalt stamped his feet in rage.
“Wait.” Kasu’s heart pounded. So that imp demon in the forest had been telling the truth. Sunan had already been caught. She was already dead.
“I’LL KILL YOU!”
Kasu jumped as Arun hurled himself against the cage again so hard it almost tipped over.
“Arun!”
Kasu yanked at the bars of her own cage, hoping they would bend, hoping she could edge even just an inch closer to him. His shoulder was bleeding where he kept smacking into the side. If she could just calm him. If he would just listen to her…
“I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU DISGUSTING DEMONS! YOU… You…” Arun sagged against the bars.
All the teeth in Lord Cobalt’s body clamped together in a kind of toothy grin. “Your despair is wonderful. Maybe I’ll keep you to myself as a little midnight snack. No, no matter how much you suffer, without the elixir I’m doubtful you’d taste good.”
The demon turned to his servants.
“Keep catching more ghosts.”
Lord Cobalt left, muttering to himself about how Lady Camellia still owed him a sack of bones. Kasu did not see him exit – the door was somewhere beyond her line of sight – but she noted the visible relief in the other ghosts’ faces once he was gone.
Arun did not look well. His eyes were glassy and distant, but he kept a tenuous hold on his senses. Kasu could feel the effects of the incense too. Her vision was starting to spin. She balled her hands into fists, nails biting into her palms. The pain helped keep her head clear.
“Keep it down,” one of their captors snapped. “What do you care about some heavenly lady? You lot wouldn’t have been able to afford so much as a fingernail, anyway.”
“When I get out of here, I’m going to kill you all.” Arun’s voice was the soft whisper of a blade pulled from its sheath.
The ghost grinned at Arun, a malicious glee spreading across his face. Whatever he was going to say next, Kasu was sure she didn’t want Arun hearing it. She thought again of Ruo.
You look interesting. If you ever need me, call my name. I’ll come if I think you’re doing something fun, Ruo had said, but that was before they had been caught by Lady Camellia, before Kasu had ruined everything.
One could not rely on the whims of a curse.
But … wasn’t that why Ruo was upset with her? Because they had wanted Kasu to rely on them. To trust them.
“Ruo,” she whispered beneath her breath. “Ruo, can you hear me? I need you.”
She knew that it was pointless. Even if Ruo wanted to come, they were inside a building. The cat could not teleport into enclosed spaces, nor could they appear anywhere they had never been before, and Kasu was certain Ruo had never been here … wherever they were.
“To make a powerful elixir, you need powerful ingredients. The blood of someone from the heavens, their soul, their suffering. I bet that lady died in agony.” Their captor grinned.
In the cage next to hers, Arun’s breathing had grown more ragged. He was leaning heavily against the bars of his cage, using them as a crutch to push himself to his feet.
“You damn…”
“Arun!” Kasu hissed. “Arun, stay awake!”
Their ghost captor looked at them, triumphant. Kasu was sure he was going to gloat some more when a faint drumming sound caught her attention. A distant, rhythmical pounding that was growing louder and closer with every beat.
Something crashed through the far wall.
“YOU! MASK THIEF!”