Chapter 21
Kai followed Mikano to the northern end of town. A little walk past the last house would take them to a boathouse. There were trees there, scraggly yet defiantly braving the wind and salt the ocean brought.
Kai tried to hide between the brush and the thin trunks, admittedly an effort bound to fail. Mikano though, just strode along the path in the grass and gravel, not formally paved but drawn there by people walking to and from this place.
I’ve never seen anyone take a boat out though. I’m not even sure anyone ever talked about boats or fishing, let alone swimming. They would just meet here once or twice a month, and Nick told me he’d be back late.
“Hey, are witch’s sabbaths real?” Kai asked Mikano, keeping his voice low.
The shark glanced back. “In a way. If humans practice witchcraft, doing it in a group can grant them more power, and working alongside celestial events can add even more to that.”
“You mean, if they met here on the full moon, it was a sabbath?”
Mikano frowned. “If you need to make sense of what they did to you, of how they managed to overpower you, yes, I’m sure that was one aspect of it.
But, little dreamer, there isn’t much you could have done to stop them once they drove the hook through your tongue.
They would have gotten something physical of yours—hair or spit, that sort of thing, and after that point, you’d have been stuck in the current of their foul spells. ”
Kai sighed. “I went on a date with him. I guess he could have gotten a hair then? I didn’t notice. I was about to ghost him, you know?”
“That’s the thing you do with unsuitable relationship candidates. Tom and his bestie explained all about that. I will tell Tickle about it too. Perhaps he will then go and get himself a human phone finally. After all, who else is Tom going to call if he can’t reach me?”
Kai pulled his new and shiny device from his pocket. “He got me this. He said he just wants to use it when he’s here.”
Mikano gaped. “Oh, Tickle. Kai, I do apologize. My brother doesn’t understand that phones are private. Do you like phones, Kai? Texting?”
Kai shrugged. “Sure.”
“I’ll explain to him how important that is in a relationship. You can get matching phone cases. He’ll like that.” Mikano pulled out his own phone with the sleek black case. “Tom got me this as an engagement present, and he has the same.”
The boathouse was in full view ahead of them.
“You know, that is so cool. Guess what else would be cool?”
Mikano put on an angelic smile. “Saving Tickle?”
“Exactly. Do we have a plan?” Kai asked, keeping his voice low.
“A plan? Humans always need a plan, don’t they? Do you recall what I told you about not eating humans?”
“You said you do, actually.”
“Kai, you don’t have to listen to everything I say and then go and remember it too. But yes, I do. Sometimes. I think I will make an exception today.”
Kai cleared his throat. “You already ate the mailman, Mikano.”
The shark demon clicked his tongue. “I told you not to look. Standard protocol dictates that we protect any innocent humans we encounter, not traumatize them further.”
Kai bit his lips. He tasted blood. “I’m good. I don’t remember most of it, but I am good with that old man being gone. And I’m glad it wasn’t quiet and peaceful.”
Mikano’s expression turned thoughtful. “I see. That is the plan then. I don’t want to overcomplicate things.”
“You’re going to eat them?”
“Sure, why not?” Mikano unbuttoned his jacket.
“Well…”
Kai thought it through. He had opinions on the death penalty, and he had opinions about what some people got away with. He’d had so many thoughtful discussions with so many thoughtful people, but all of that had been before.
Now, here, those opinions were shadows, and his life for the past three years was the reality, and the two didn’t seem to want to overlap.
“That was silly of me to ask, Kai. You don’t get a say. This is a demon matter. Those humans toyed with magic, and now here I am. And I happened to be hungry. That’s all. You can stay here and keep your eyes closed if you want to.”
Kai’s bottom lip trembled, hurting from where he’d bitten himself. He shook his head.
Mikano made a sound that Kai chose to read as approval. “In that case, you stay behind me.”
Just when he said it, the door to the boathouse was thrown open. Nick and James walked out, and they saw Kai and Mikano immediately given there really wasn’t any cover to speak of.
Nick leered. “Hey, baby. You came back to me. Good boy. I think I’ll reward you for that. But on the other hand, you gave it up for a fucking demon. Just so you know, I’ll have you wear a collar made of his guts and bones.”
Mikano squared his shoulders. “I see I found the right kind of humans.”
Nick looked blank, then understanding settled. “Fucking hell, Kai! How many of them have you been banging? I take my eyes off you for a minute, and you go wild.”
Mikano’s gaze was focused on the two witches. “Kai. Now is the time to look away.”
And then he shifted into a shark, large, majestic even, sharp-toothed and scary. The scare factor was amped up by the fact that he was swimming in the air.
Kai didn’t know much about sharks, but he knew they were fast. Demon sharks were clearly no exception. Before Kai could really process it, Mikano had made it to the door, and his jaws—mighty and cruel and perhaps just—closed around Nick’s right arm.
Nick was surprised, and for a moment that stretched while the shark circled and prepared for a second bite, he stood there and stared at his stump.
He touched me with that hand. He held me down. He touched me when I didn’t want to be touched.
Even when Nick finally started screaming, the scene felt unreal to Kai, his body becoming unmoored.
Mikano had made his turn, and James, who was shouting something and running toward Kai, had a big bite taken out of him too. At the same time, the shark’s massive fin slapped Nick, brought him to the ground.
After two more turns, the witches stopped their screaming and not long after that, they stopped their moving.
Kai stood there, watching as Mikano turned back into a suit-wearing man. His lips moved, but Kai’s ears were ringing. He knew one thing and would live with the certainty of it from that point on.
“He’s dead now. He’s dead, and he can never hurt me again.”