Chapter 15
Kris
It felt almost silly to go to work later that day and flip through marriage profiles while a possessed doll actively ran unchecked through the city.
Like, ghosts getting hitched shouldn’t matter, in a way?
But on the other hand, there wasn’t anything for me to do.
Even Zhen couldn’t do much more than try and track the demon with the huodou.
His hands were tied until the response team arrived.
If I didn’t work, I’d be at home fretting, and that was certainly not productive.
At least here, I had something to take my mind off the situation.
My worry made the bond sting a bit, but it held stable for now.
Thankfully. Still, I was under a promise that if the bond kept twitching or escalated, I’d cut the workday short and go to Zhen.
I played it very much by ear. I worried more for how Zhen felt right now.
I could tell he’d been in acute pain for a minute while driving us to the airport, and again when I’d mentioned the ley lines.
Before I’d left for work, he’d pinky promised he’d call if it got too bad. I was holding him to it.
No part of me liked how dangerous the situation was.
If Annabelle scared even Zhen, then this had the potential to go sideways quick.
I always worried about him during a hunt because he charged in, but now?
Fear tasted like acid reflux and felt like stomach cramps, a feeling that only increased as the full breadth of the situation hit.
It left me nauseous, rattled and scared like never before.
We were in a precarious situation right now.
Could Zhen and the huodou keep Annabelle in check long enough for his friends to get here?
It’s not like the doll would twiddle its thumbs and wait around.
There was no guarantee everyone could arrive in time.
What would Zhen do if the demon charged him?
I knew my husband. Even if he thought there was small chance he could win, he wouldn’t back down from a fight. Zhen didn’t know when to quit.
I fervently hoped people would arrive soon. There was nothing else I could do right now, and the helpless feeling churning in my chest wasn’t pleasant, to say the least.
All the huodou except Jun Hie had gone hunting for Annabelle.
Jun Hie was alert and pacing, sometimes coming in to cuddle and reassure me, before doing another sweep of the area to make sure I was still safe.
His agitation did nothing to calm my fears.
I had called and alerted Jasha to what was going on.
He’d been stunned but not surprised, because his familiar had been acting very moody since bird’s hour this morning and had kept very close to him.
He’d sensed something off through her. She was such a good guard kitty.
I prayed those two didn’t cross paths with Annabelle because they were so, so not equipped to take it on.
I sighed, turning my attention back to work. Might as well get something done while I was here. If I was just going to sit and stew, I could have stayed at home and done that.
Our profile database had a way of filtering options.
It was kind of necessary, otherwise you had to skim through a hundred bride profiles, and who had that kind of time?
I went through the notes on what Yan Yichen had requested of his bride, filtered the selections, and pulled up the first three profiles to take a better look.
Seemed like good possibilities? Judging from the previous two girlfriends he’d had, he definitely favored blonde Americans, but he’d agreed to meet Chinese girls through us, so maybe he welcomed all takers?
Some people really didn’t have a physical type.
I did. And that type was my husband.
Well, all I could do was offer him possible matches. I printed those three profiles out in extra-large font so Boss could read them more easily, and then brought them to her.
She was squirreled into her office chair, a cup of tea in one hand, and glanced up as I entered.
“Matches?”
“For Yan Yichen.” I handed all three over. “I don’t know which girl he’d prefer, if any. All three seem like fine possibilities to me.”
“Well, let me look through them, and we’ll ask him.”
For some reason, Boss caught my hand. “You look anxious, Kris.”
For an almost blind woman, she sure saw a lot. Or perhaps she saw through to the heart of the matter. “I’m antsy. It’s hard to focus here when Annabelle’s running around loose doing god knows what.”
“It’s something you have to adapt to,” she advised me.
Her small, wrinkled hand gave mine a little squeeze, comfort and encouragement.
“Often, you have to wait. This time’s a prime example of not being able to go, go, go and solve the problem with a snap of your fingers.
Zhen’s business is such that he must wait, call upon allies or experts, before he can forge ahead.
As bullheaded as he can be, he does have good sense. ”
Like I’d said earlier, I’d seen this man with an injured leg fighting Smoke Wolves and Raven Mockers in the Appalachian Mountains, so I didn’t know if good sense was the phrase I’d choose, but I took her general meaning.
“What scared me the most was that when he couldn’t find the doll, he just stopped.
He immediately stopped and called in reinforcements.
I’ve never seen him do that before. It scared the shit out of me, that there’s things even he won’t fight alone.
Not to mention how the bond reacted after being docile for the last few months.
I think Zhen was truly afraid going in, and it caused a flare-up. ”
“Ahhh. Yes, I can see how it would. He’s maturing as he ages. He would absolutely have tried to take on the doll when he was nineteen.” Boss made a face. “It’s truly a miracle he survived past twenty. Until then, he thought himself invincible.”
“I can totally imagine this.”
“But after twenty, he got an injury on the job, and it was like what we’d been saying for years had finally sunk in.
You’re not infallible. After that, he checked himself more often.
He erred on the side of caution and took a friend with him if the situation looked dangerous.
I’ve seen him adapting even more since he gained you, as he’s realized his decisions put you in danger, too.
He’s maturing. The bond is just an extra kick in the pants. ”
The growing pains had been a bit bumpy and a wild ride, but she wasn’t wrong. Adrenaline junkie that he was, Zhen was trying to find the balance between danger and calculated risk. A fine balancing act, to be sure.
“I’m glad you came along,” Boss continued with a wry smile, her milky eyes meeting mine. “His chances of actually retiring are improving.”
“Ah. Yeah, can’t argue. The one upside to this whole thing is that I get to meet more of his hunting buddies.”
“Yes, that is a silver lining. If you’re needing something to do, can you go up to the other two apartments and make sure everything’s clean and the beds have sheets? I didn’t think to check.”
We had people coming in either later this afternoon or late tonight, so that was definitely a priority. “I can get some basic groceries in each place, too?”
“They won’t have time to cook, just make sure there’s coffee and other drinks in there. I’ll feed them.”
Lucky bastards. Maybe I could sneak my own bowl in there, too. “Look over these, then. I’ll handle things upstairs.”
Boss kept a key to all the apartments on a little hook next to her office door, so I snagged those on the way out. I popped back out to the front to tell Charlotte, “Hey, I’m going upstairs to prep the rooms for people.”
She swiveled in her chair, and I saw Bootsy had once again found a willing lap. “Sure, I can watch the door. Um, Kris?”
From her frown, she had worries and questions. “Shoot.”
“How dangerous is this? I mean, from what I know of Zhen and what all you’ve told me, he hunts demons all the time.
But everyone’s acting like this is…bad. Really bad.
I think Jo Jo’s afraid to scare me off, so he’s being a bit vague”—her eyes flashed with stubbornness and determination—“but I want to prove I can handle this life. I need to know what’s got you guys so on edge. ”
I wanted to reassure her, but honestly? Truth would safeguard her better than anything else. “Annabelle’s possessed by a demon so powerful the Catholic church sends a priest to bless it once a week to keep it subdued, all because they can’t exorcise it.”
All color leeched from her skin. “That’s, like, super bad. Right?”
“‘Super bad’ about covers it. My thrill-seeking husband won’t fight it alone. He called every friend he could to get them down here, that’s how much this thing worries him. If Zhen’s scared? We should avoid at all costs.”
“Shit. Yeah, okay, message received. Anything I can do to help?”
I almost said no, but she needed a task as much as I did. “Can you get on Instacart or something and get some stuff in? Like bagels, coffee, water bottles, sports drinks. We need to do a basic stock of the apartments upstairs.”
“Uh, wouldn’t you need, like, toiletries and stuff too?”
It was official. I wasn’t thinking clearly. “You’re a hundred percent correct. Order a selection of those things too.”
“Sure. I’ll do that.”
“Use the business card,” I told her even as I turned for the stairs. “Boss has okayed it.”
“Perfect.”
Too antsy to wait for the elevator, I ran up the stairs—ugh, cardio—and went through each apartment.
Some of them had some basics, like toilet paper, but they’d been mostly cleared out of toiletries.
I took inventory of the top floor even as I stripped and remade beds, did a quick dusting and mopping to freshen the place up.
Then I shifted to the other apartment and did it again.
All right, I’d burned off some energy and about two hours, and both guest apartments were prepped.
I felt a little better about matters. This didn’t seem glamorous at all, but I knew how exhausting a hunt could be, and how you reached a point where you desperately wanted a hot shower and twelve hours of sleep.
They’d appreciate being able to do that.
Oh shit, towels!
I called Charlotte and frantically asked, “Can you still add to the order?”
“Uh, no? It’s about to arrive in, like, twenty minutes, why?”
“I totally forgot there’s no towels up here. We tossed them all last week since they were gross.”
“Ohhh. It’s fine, I’ll switch stores and order some. Bath rugs, too?”
“Yeah, probably a good idea.”
Phew, okay, now I felt like things were settled. I’d have to bring all the supplies up here and put things away, but that part was easy.
I took the blessedly fixed elevator down this time, intending to pop back into Boss’s office to put the keys back on the ring for now. I’d lock them up later after everything was put in place. Plus, she’d need to know where the keys were to let people into their temporary apartments.
When I entered her office, though, she looked pensive, thin lips pursed. She had a spirit doll in front of her she prodded with one crooked finger. Not exactly normal behavior.
“Boss, something wrong?”
“I can’t summon Yan Yichen.” She poked the doll again.
“I, uh, what? I didn’t think a spirit could refuse a summoning?”
“Well, they can, under the right circumstances. But typically they don’t. Especially with him aware we want to introduce him to brides, he’d be receptive to a summoning.”
“I would think.” I couldn’t imagine why he’d refuse. And honestly, if she was puzzled, there was no way I’d figure it out. She was the expert, here.
“Let’s set the summoning aside and try it a different day,” Boss finally said. “Kris, dispose of the doll for me.”
“Yeah, sure.” That meant taking it out back in a little metal bowl and burning it completely.
You don’t leave spirit dolls just lying around, okay?
Literally anything could possess them. Anything.
Malicious ghosts, spirits with grudges, anything that could get its grubby paws on a host. And granted, a little spirit doll only a foot tall couldn’t do a lot of physical damage, but the chance to have a physical form at all granted them something of a boost.
And we needed another doll running around loose about as much as I needed a wardrobe malfunction in public.
“I’ll just, uh, burn this now. Charlotte ordered all the things, so we should be good to go soon.”
“Thank you, honey.”
With my sister out of earshot, I leaned in and whispered, “Is she doing a good job for you when I’m not here?”
“She’s been wonderful. I can tell she’s never worked before, so we’ve had some bumps, but she’s adapting fine. And her Mandarin is coming along.”
“Good, good. I thought she was doing good but wanted to double-check.”
Boss got a silly grin. “I understand she and Jo Jo went on a few dates.”
“Yep, and they’ve already made it official.”
I’d been shocked as hell when I finally checked my messages after the unsuccessful airport search this morning. Lots of exclamations and OMGs from Charlotte at like two a.m. “I’m surprised he’s her type.”
“He’s a good boy. She can do far worse.”
“I’m not saying otherwise. I just didn’t realize that was her type.” Knowing our parents would pick out her husband, Charlotte had never bothered dating anyone. She’d always stopped at light flirting.
Funny how even sisters had wildly different tastes in men.
With a shrug, I scooped up the doll. “I’ll burn this and be right back.”
Despite my rising worry, the bond acted only a little grouchy but manageable. If it got any worse, I’d call it quits and ride in the back seat with Zhen while he tried to track down Annabelle. Hmm, on second thought, that sounded like a mix of terrifying and boring as hell. I’d rather not.
While I watched the doll burn in the little burn pail, I decided to text him.
Zhu ni hao yun.
Good luck.