The Night Itself (15 page)

“What are you
doing
?” Jack yelled. “That’s my sister!”

“It’s the Nekomata,” Shinobu said, suddenly right behind me. He grabbed my hand and the back of Jack’s jacket, hauling us both off the stools and towards the door. “It fed from your sister and took her form to trap us. Come on!”

“No!” Jack tore free of Shinobu’s grip. Her eyes were fixed on Rachel, who was slumped on the floor, curled into a ball, arms over her face.

Shinobu shoved me forcefully behind him and ran back for her. I reeled sideways, hitting the wall next to the door. Shinobu caught Jack’s arm just as she reached the fridge. She fought him, her free hand stretching out towards her sister.

“Rachel! Look at me!”

Rachel’s human skin burst. Flesh-coloured shreds flew out in long streamers, turning black, thickening into tentacles. She surged up from the floor, her pretty face sprouting black-and-white fur, eyes flashing yellow.

One tentacle flicked and knocked Jack’s legs from under her, sending her crashing to the floor. Two others cracked out like whips and wrapped around Shinobu’s arms. He pivoted on one heel, kicking high. His foot smashed into the Nekomata’s face. It flinched and hissed viciously. “I’ve had enough of you.”

One of its free limbs flew up, sharpening into a wicked point.

I sucked in a deep breath that felt like it lasted for ever. Then I darted forward, breath roaring out of my throat. “Shinobu!”

The katana appeared in my hand. I wrenched the blade from the saya and spun it in a one-handed strike, slicing cleanly through one of the tentacles that was holding Shinobu. Thick, black blood spurted. He ripped free of the second tentacle as I whirled past.

“Get Jack!” I shrieked to him over the sound of the Nekomata’s catlike scream.

“I will eat you!” The monster’s voice no longer sounded anything like Rachel’s. “I will suck the marrow from your bones!”

Shinobu hoisted a stunned Jack up into his arms. He carried her to the kitchen door, but instead of running, he dumped her outside and turned back. His eyes scanned the kitchen, looking for a weapon. I backed warily away from the Nekomata into the sunroom, really, really hoping that he would find one.

It’s in my house. Oh God, this thing is In. My. House
.

The monster shot four tentacles at me, the ends sharpening as they flew, like arrows. To my astonishment, I managed to dodge two of them and slice a long line into the side of the fourth before the injured tail whipped furiously and caught me a ringing blow to the side of my face.

Pain exploded across my cheekbone. I staggered but managed to keep on my feet, turning the movement into a dive that took me behind the dining table.

“You have got stronger already,” the Nekomata said, sounding surprised. “But not strong enough. Give me the katana! Give it to me!”

A forest of talons thudded into the table and chairs. The hardened oak exploded. I flung myself away, screaming as needle-sharp shards of wood sliced through the arm and shoulder of my coat. I hit the kitchen tiles hard, knocking over one of the island stools. Blood trickled down my wrist and pattered onto the wreckage of smashed cups and wood chunks as I scrambled up.

The Nekomata laughed, a wicked, gleeful gurgle. “Foolish little girl. You do not have the power to hurt me.”

“But
I
do,” said Shinobu.

As the Nekomata whirled to face him, Shinobu lifted the nozzle of our kitchen fire extinguisher and depressed the grip. White foam surged out of the mouth and hit the Nekomata full in the face.

The monster shrieked and scuttled back towards me, tails clawing at the bubbling foam. I could hear its skin sizzling.

“Aim for the heart!” Shinobu shouted at me.

I sucked in a deep breath and lifted the katana. Droplets of my own blood dripped onto my face as I stared at the thrashing knot of darkness on my kitchen floor.
The heart? Aim for the heart? Where the heck is that? I don’t know how to do this!

“Jack,” Rachel’s voice cried from under the bubbling foam. “Jack, please don’t let them hurt me.”

“Mimi.” Jack was standing in the kitchen doorway, clutching the frame. Her eyes were huge, pleading. “That’s still Rachel. We have to save her.”

“That is not your sister, Jack-san,” Shinobu shouted. He looked like he was about to try and jump over the Nekomata and wrench the katana off me. “Mio – strike now!”

Tentacles uncoiled from the knot around the creature’s face and flew out, wrapping around my wrists and dragging me forward. I stumbled one step and dug my heels into the floor, resisting with everything I had. “Help!”

The Nekomata’s eyes were swollen almost shut, its face scalded by the foam, but the terrible mouth gaped impossibly wide, filled with snapping, bristling fangs. The monster’s hot breath blasted my nose with the stench of rotting flesh. My hands, and the sword, were within an inch of its mouth.

I heard a crash – the door into the garden flying open – then Shinobu’s voice, raised desperately, shouting in Japanese. I only understood one word:
Kitsune
.

The Nekomata’s crushing grip on my arms loosened for an instant. I twisted sideways and managed to rip one hand free, but the hand holding the katana was still firmly caught. I looked around frantically for another weapon – a knife, a chunk of wood, anything. Then I realized that the Nekomata was making no attempt to pull me closer any more. It had frozen, its puffy yellow eyes riveted on something behind me.

I peered over my shoulder to see Shinobu just outside the back door, in the scrubby little garden. His black figure was limned with fire, outlined against the red glow of the setting sun.

But it was hours until sunset and the sky was black with clouds.

The light was coming from the big, unruly myrtle bush next to the garage wall. Fiery rays shone through the leaves, turning them scarlet and bronze and gold, as if the centre of the bush was on fire. The foliage rustled with a soft, sibilant sound like a roomful of people whispering secrets.

A small fox, slightly mangy and greyish, like all city foxes seemed to be, emerged from under the bush and sat calmly, bathed in the glowing light. It stared at me though the glass wall of the extension with what I could have sworn was humour. One of its ears twitched.

The red glow intensified, and as I watched, the fox’s mangy, grey fur melted away to reveal a vivid, copper coat with a lustre like polished metal and a shining blaze of white on its chest. The fox stood up on its back legs, body lengthening, transforming, as it grew. A final burst of light made me blink.

When I looked again, the light was gone and in the fox’s place there stood a slender young man. Glorious, copper hair fell well past his waist, and he wore a formal white kimono. His face was heart-shaped, with a pointed chin and a smiling mouth. A glossy, white-tipped tail poked out of the bottom of the kimono.

“Shinobu of the old country,” the young man said. His light, tenor voice was formal, but there was a lilting note to it that made me feel he was on the verge of laughter. “You have called upon the Kitsune of this city for assistance, and, in accordance with the promise made to you by our king centuries ago, we will lend it. What is it that you wish of us?”

Shinobu let out a sigh, slumping with clear relief. “Thank you. I beg of you, Lord Fox, banish the Nekomata from the house, and make this place safe from the invasion of harmful supernatural creatures.”

The fox spirit tilted his head, a narrow, white grin spreading across his face. “Your request shall be granted. And just between us? Awesome wish, man.”

The tip of his tail began to crackle, fur turning incandescent like a long, white flame. The Nekomata’s tentacles released me, flinging my arm away so hard that I spun round and stumbled over the fallen kitchen stool.

“No,” it yowled. “This is not the business of the Kitsune.”

“Sorry, cat-breath. You made it our business when you messed with Tall, Dark and Handsome here.” The fox winked at Shinobu. Shinobu cleared his throat.

“I will take vengeance. My Mistress will take vengeance!” the Nekomata cried.

The fox laughed. “Yeah, good luck with that. If I were you, though, I’d stop whining and start running.”

The fox lashed his bushy tail once, twice, then whipped it forward. A bolt of sizzling blue-white lightning shot from the white tip and hit the glass wall.

The electricity bubbled and spread on impact like glowing gel, multiplying, crackling along the joins of the windows, springing up on the skirting boards of the kitchen, surrounding the doorway, roaring out of the cupboards. It even dripped out of the taps.

I looked down to see it burning under my feet, licking along the tile grout. The blue-white flames didn’t consume anything. They didn’t even feel warm. But the Nekomata let out a squeal of utter terror and scuttled back towards the kitchen doorway, where Jack was still standing.

Jack’s eyes widened. She scooted through the entrance, missing the Nekomata’s tentacles by inches. The Nekomata didn’t even notice. Its rolling eyes were fixed on the fox fire that was engulfing the kitchen and swarming towards it. The drops of its blood on the kitchen tiles fizzled and disappeared with tiny puffs of black smoke under the flickering light.

“This is not the end,” the Nekomata snarled at me. “I still have your friend’s sister. If you do not surrender the sword by sunrise, I will devour her. Surrender by sunrise, or Rachel Luci dies!”

With a parting yowl, the Nekomata turned tail and ran.

I
heard the front door fly open, despite the fact that I’d locked it. I scrambled to my feet and peered down the hall in time to see the Nekomata’s tails disappearing out of the open doorway just ahead of a wall of blue-white flames. The flames shot up around the frame and lintel, then the door slammed shut with a thud and the deadbolt engaged again. The fox fire roared up for a second, then snuffed out completely, leaving no sign that it had ever been there.

The Kitsune sighed. “Shame. One more second and it would have been Stonesville for Kitty. Well, this was fun, guys. See you around.”

“Wait!” Jack ran past me and leapt out of the back door to confront the Kitsune. “Don’t go!”

Crap
. I couldn’t remember most of the stories that Ojiichan had told me when I was a kid, but something that had stuck in my head, possibly due to subsequent years of anime-watching, was that while fox spirits could be friendly to humans, they could also be temperamental and tricksy. If Jack wasn’t careful she would end up getting turned into a rice ball.

“Jack—” I began, hurrying out into the garden after her.

She ignored me. “You kicked that monster’s ass, man. You have to help us get my sister back.”

I edged forward, preparing to grab Jack, but Shinobu met my eyes and shook his head slightly. When I looked at the Kitsune’s face, I saw why. He was gazing at Jack’s spiky white, pink and purple hair, purple jacket, black fingernails, skin-tight black pants and knee-high biker boots with the dazed, admiring look that men usually reserved for someone who looked like Jessica Alba. In a bikini.

He bowed reverently. “I’m Hikaru. What’s your name?”

“I’m Jack. Jack Luci,” Jack said. She bowed back, a movement I recognized from martial arts. “And my sister—”

“Is Rachel. I heard,” Hikaru said. He looked torn for a second, then sighed. “I wish I could help. Honestly. But you saw that thing. It had nine tails.” He waved his own tail apologetically.

Jack gave him a bewildered look. “It was terrified of you.”

“Not
me
. I was here representing the London Kitsune. That’s why I got the awesome entrance, with the light and everything. I happened to be closest when your friend here called in his favour, so I was imbued with the authority of my king. And the king can call on every Kitsune in the city. I’d never be a match for a nine-tails otherwise.” Seeing that Jack still looked confused, he explained: “Animal spirits like us grow a new tail every hundred years, right? That thing’s been alive at least a thousand years. I’m not even a hundred yet. So it’s ten times more powerful than me. It’d eat me for a light snack. And I mean, literally.”

“There’s a Kitsune king?” I said slowly. “There’s a Kitsune king in London?”

“Yeah. Anywhere there are foxes, there are Kitsune,” Hikaru replied absently. He was still staring at Jack.

“And he owed you a favour?” I asked Shinobu, since Hikaru obviously wasn’t going to give me the time of day.

Shinobu nodded. “When I was a little boy, before the Yamato family adopted me, I came across a fox caught in a snare in the woods. I felt sorry for it, so I set it free. He turned out to be a Kitsune. He spoke to me, told me that he was a prince, and that he was in my debt. He promised to repay me if ever I called on him, no matter where or how.

“That prince is the King of the London Kitsune now,” Hikaru said. “Lucky coincidence. But Kitsune never forget their debts, and all the kings come from the same family. Even if you’d been in the Antarctic, the nearest foxes would have tried to help.”

“Then won’t he help again?” Jack asked. “If he’s Shinobu’s friend—”

“It’s not like that, Jack-san. The Kitsune are honourable, and they always keep their promises, but the debt is now paid. They no longer owe me anything.”

“We don’t get involved in human business these days,” Hikaru said, matter-of-factly. He averted his eyes from Jack with what looked like a painful effort. “I mean, it’s not like you guys are all that friendly to foxes, you know? Rat poison, traps, guns. And that’s just in the city. So, I really should be going now…”

Jack ran her fingers through her hair and tugged at it. The white tufts sticking up through her fingers made her look like Goth Tinkerbell. “We’re not like that. Rachel loves animals. She’s always putting food out for strays and hedgehogs and birds. She’d help you, if it was the other way round. You can’t just leave her to get eaten. Won’t you do
anything
?”

Hikaru, who was halfway back to the bush, stopped. “Me? What am I supposed to do?”