Page 37
Rain poured down.
My bare feet splashed in puddles.
“You can run, little witch. But in the end. . .”
I almost stumbled.
“I will always find you.”
Chapter five
Fox Trap
Gabby
🎧 Chapter 5 Soundtrack:
Rain came down hard.
My bare feet slapped through cold puddles. Black silk clung to my thighs. My hair dripped into my eyes.
I had shot an eight-hundred-year-old kitsune six times, and somehow, I was the one running. The unfairness of that shit almost pissed me off more than the fact that he would be chasing me soon.
Alright. I have to fix this shit.
I turned into a narrow alley between two shuttered shops and pressed my back against the wall.
I lifted the gun, pressed the magazine release, and let the empty magazine drop into my palm.
I need a sacrifice.
It took me longer to retrieve the yen coins from beneath the bandages around my hand. The layers of red flannel, white cotton, indigo, and more white had been tightly wrapped, but I got those coins out fast enough.
The coins were warm.
What the hell?
They should have been cold. Rain struck my skin, and the wind cut through my wet gown. But those two coins sat hot against my palm, and I knew right then that Aunt Delphine’s blessed salt had been cooking on Yoichi’s blood the whole damn time.
Damn. This motherfucker is powerful.
I shivered.
Forget about that. Focus.
I closed my fist around the coins and the bite. The punctures split open. Blood welled between my knuckles. “Grandma, I need you more than ever. You know the blood in this hand.”
The coins pulsed.
“I’ve called on you and the other ancestors a lot tonight, but I’m asking for one more favor. Please fill my hand, Grandma, so that I can continue our work in this world and strengthen our roots.”
The coins jerked in my palm like two fish.
I swallowed.
Heat tore through my wrist and shot into the black heart on my chest. My cursed mark pulsed hard, and my knees buckled.
Bracing myself for the surge of my grandmother’s magic, I gasped and slapped one hand against the wall. “Oh shit!”
