By the Horns (32 page)

Xing sneered as the fox spirits huffed out the door and straight into Price, who clutched their arms and retreated like he was a fucking coward. All part of the plan, of course. Price would wait outside—backup if they needed it.

Kassian eased for a second before tensing once more.

Xing glanced toward the suite door.

“Your guards aren’t coming.” Nat brought her hand from behind her back to flare open her fan. One drop of bluish black ooze dripped to the ground as evidence.

Xing fingered his collar and adjusted his pants before towering above them. “What do you want, Natalie?”

She tilted her head. “Vengeance. For myself, for Mother, for little Mali.”

“Who the hell is Mali?”

“One of your many victims.” Her voice carried on a whisper. “You won’t live to murder more.”

Her father let out a booming guffaw. “Who are you to stop me, Natalie? I gave you life. I can take it away. Not the other way around.”

“I’m not that weak little girl anymore. I’m strong. Powerful enough to end you.” She flashed Snake over herself.

“Snake,” Xing hissed, his eyes burning from the inside out, a molten reddish black. The tattoos creeping out from his shirtsleeves and collar assumed the same eerie glow.

Xing rushed Nat, but Kassian bolted forward, intercepting him.

He side-blocked the demon-man, knocking him to the ground. Nat whirled out of their path. Xing vaulted back to his feet, nimbly eluding Kassian’s grasp. Fuck, for a large bastard, he sure was slippery.

“Snake, Nat!” Kassian shouted over his shoulder. To catch the fiend, they had to be faster than him, and nothing moved faster than Snake’s whip-like tail.

He shot to all fours and spun to attack Xing again. Ox’s power lay in its strength, not so much in its agility, and the demon man outran every one of Kassian’s charges. He bolted forward, straight for the man’s middle, but Xing evaded him again. Kassian slammed into the wall, crashing halfway through, and scraping his shoulders. Buzzing filled his ears and he shook his head, tossing off the pain radiating like a gong’s vibrations through his body. Wedged between the living room and bedroom, he winced in shallow breaths. Drywall dust formed a cloud around him, its paste choking his lungs and coating his skin. He uncloaked Ox, clambered through the hole he’d made, and swiped his eyes to clear his vision. The living room and bedroom were empty.

Hell.

Grunting echoed from the direction of the balcony. Shit!

He rushed to the sliding glass doors. Snake dipped its head and hissed long and slow at Xing, who bared his fangs—what must have been fifty sharp teeth inside his once-human mouth. One black-clawed finger scratched at his neck, causing the skin to strip like birch bark.

Fuck. That was disgusting. Beneath his peeling skin, a layer of transparent black ooze glistened. Under that crap? Who the hell knew.

One thing was certain. Xing was more demon than human. Like all demons, he could be killed…right?

The ones that escaped the eighteen layers of
Dìyù
—hell—could be sent back with a simple lethal blow. Xing hadn’t been born a demon and his half-human status might complicate things.

Nat whipped Snake’s tail and its razor-sharp edge slashed Xing’s body, tearing his tailored shirt through to his fake human shell.

Instead of injuring her opponent, his sneered taunts suggested he seemed to be getting off on it. “A pity you were never the son I wished for. We might have ruled the world together.”

Oh fuck, no. Xing should have known better than to start on macho bullcrap.

“Yeah, maybe if you’d had a son instead of a daughter, you wouldn’t be meeting your death today.” Nat swiped her long flowing hair out of her face and glared hard at Xing.

He scoffed. “You? A pathetic female? No, little Natalie. Even as a Chosen, your feminine sensibilities would never let you do such a thing. You’re just like your mother.
Weak
.” Xing crooked his fingers, coaxing Nat to attack.

“I am not weak!” Nat swung Snake’s tail toward Xing.

Instead of letting the whip raze him, he caught the tip in his clawed hand, his muscles bulging with a strength much greater than he appeared to possess. Oh, shit.

Nat flipped upside down, head smacking the concrete patio. Xing didn’t stop. He gave Snake’s tail a rough tug, dragging her toward him. He eyed her like the power in Nat would be a most tasty morsel. ‘Cause that was what demons did—suck energy from humans…and other beings.

Kassian leapt into the air and landed, straddling Snake’s tail to position himself in the middle. He’d been fine with letting Nat handle this, until it became clear that “this” was too much for any one person to handle. “Sorry to interrupt the family reunion, but you’re not laying one fucking demonic hand on Nat.” Ox’s horns dipped to point at Xing.

“Stay out of this, Ox. This is between a father and his daughter.” Xing dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

“He’s right, Kassian.” Nat huffed a determined breath. “You shouldn’t be here.” She bucked Snake’s tail, flipping him onto his ass.

The impact spiraled up his spine and clacked his teeth together. He shook off the buzzing in his ears. “No, you don’t have to do this alone, Natalie.”

Xing cut in with a low, menacing chuckle. “We’ve already established this, Ox. You’re not fast enough to best me. And unless you’ve brought more of your zoo, you should make your retreat while you still can.”

Snake curled its razor spikes around the man’s forearm, inching higher and higher for better leverage.

Xing sneered. He lowered his left arm, but it jerked, resisting. As he glanced at his arm, Snake tugged its tail, and Xing flew off his feet. Kassian stomped on top of him, pinning the man with Ox’s enormous weight.

“Looks like I didn’t need to charge you that time, eh, mate?”

Xing squirmed beneath Ox’s hooves, his breaths wheezing as they grew shallow. His demon half might be consuming him, but his human half required oxygen. Kassian squashed Ox’s hoof down on the demon’s throat.

“Oh, ho ho.” Xing choked a laugh. “You’re going to regret this.”

Nat rushed to them, fan raised at her side, ready to slash Xing’s throat. “Get off him, Kassian. He’s mine.” She froze like a statue. Arm poised. Fan braced. Just like in Kassian’s vision.

“No. You can’t be the one to end him, Nat.”

“You don’t have to protect me from this, Kassian. I know what I’m doing.” Darkness crept into her features, the corner of her mouth curling. Below her, something even more sinister flashed in Xing’s eyes.

Amusement.

The pieces of Kassian’s vision clicked together and desperation clutched at his chest. “He wants you to do this, Nat. Look at him. He knows this act will place you on a path…that leads to him.”

Xing chuckled. “It’s too late. She’s already there.”

Scales flickered across Nat’s skin—Snake’s cloaking fluttering across her form. Her head twisted to send him a sideways glance, coppery eyes glinting. But was Snake in charge…or was Nat?

“I have to kill him.” She repeated the phrase in a deadened monotone.

His heart pounding, his mind raced for a way to pull her out of this. “No, you don’t. Listen to me, Natalie.” He lowered his voice, using the same soothing tone that worked on Ox. “That might be true, if this were only about you. But you can’t do this because of Snake. There are some deeds you can’t return from. You make this kill, and Snake will never trust you, will never join with you. Instead, you’ll become the monster
he
wants you to be. That’s what my vision was about.”

She blinked, as though processing his words, and nodded, lowering her trembling hand.

Xing’s nostrils flared and he opened his mouth. Before the bastard could spew more evil, Ox raised a hoof and stomped it so hard upon Xing’s neck, his spine cracked with a sickening snap. Plucking the fan from Nat’s grasp, Kassian made quick work of slicing off Xing’s head. He tossed the foul head aside with a grimace. She stared at the body for an instant before spinning toward the hotel room.

Kassian wiped the reddish black blood from the fan on Xing’s shirt. He was glad the bastard was dead. Was glad he’d been the one to do it, that Nat hadn’t succumbed to the monster in his vision.

A part of him feared that Xing wasn’t really gone. What of the demon half of him? He wouldn’t ever vanish—just be sent back to
Dìyù
. Kassian could only fucking guess what trickery they got up to in
Dìyù
.

None of that mattered, though, because Nat awaited him. She needed him. Whether she would admit it or not.

Chapter 29

Nat’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking. She smoothed them down her pants, gripping her left wrist with her right hand. While she waited for the elevator, she counted her breaths.

Kassian had killed her father. She should have been the one to do it, but something in Kassian’s words stopped her. For a brief moment, she’d thirsted for the kill. The blood. The power.

She lowered her hands and stared at them. Had these years of being an assassin doomed her to a fate like her father’s? Deep inside, was she as villainous as he?

Was evil in her blood too?

No. She fisted her hands. Kassian, and dammit, even Price, were right. Snake laid low inside her because she hadn’t ever extended the welcome. All she’d shown the spirit was a vengeful, manipulative host. Why should Snake have interacted with her when the spirit knew full well her plan was to use it? Abuse it? Snake wasn’t a weapon she could wield to serve her dark quest. It was a sentient being—a partner—given to her to fulfill a much greater purpose. While eliminating Xing protected humanity, that wasn’t why she’d wanted him dead.

In the depths of her soul, she’d allowed her anger and pain to justify her blood lust. She’d treated this precious gift no better than its previous host, Zhao.

She dropped her head and shoulders, sighing.
I’m sorry, Snake.

Perhaps, with time and patience, the spirit would forgive her and maybe even be willing to trust her.

Xing was dead, yet she didn’t experience the satisfaction she’d always assumed she would, which might be a good thing. However, relief didn’t flood her either.

Footsteps thudded behind her. Kassian.

The elevator dinged open and she stepped inside. He followed. The second the doors closed, Kassian enveloped her in his solid embrace. She craved the comfort, but nothing about this had happened how she’d expected.

“Something doesn’t feel…right.” Xing’s last words echoed, an eerie haunting that screwed with her mind. “What did he mean? He didn’t even put up much of a fight…”

Kassian squeezed her and kissed the top of her head. “I sure as hell hope he was screwing with us.” He laid his head on top of hers. As the elevator doors opened, she caught sight of Price’s questioning lifted brow.

She nodded and, slipping her hand into Kassian’s, met Price in the lobby. His eyes crinkled with concern and compassion. Emotions she’d rarely glimpsed from him. He opened his arms. “It’ll be all right, Natalie.”

She hesitated a second before accepting his hug. Without his help, she wouldn’t have been able to get close to her father and defeat him. They were even now for him shooting her. Whether that meant they could be friends, time would tell.

After a moment, she slid of out his embrace and addressed the two fox spirits, who appeared…well, bored. “Thank you.” She sent them each a sincere smile. “Without your help, we might not have been successful.”

“Yeah, anytime.” The shorter one blew a bubble from the gum in her mouth. The taller one tugged on Price’s arm. “Can we go?”

Price faced Nat and Kassian. “You gonna be okay? Need a ride anywhere?”

Kassian drew Nat to his side and waved them off. “We’ll be fine. Thanks, mate.”

His phone beeped. He withdrew it from his pocket and frowned at the text.

Her stomach knotted. “What is it?”

“The Matchmaker. She says, ‘Congratulations. Please join the Council at our Chambers to welcome the new host of the Snake.’ ”

Her stomach did another flip-flop. “She’s not…angry?” Nat had just broken a Lotus rule…

“Apparently not.” He tucked his phone back into his pocket. “She would never let you near the Chambers if she intended to take Snake from you. Or punish you otherwise.”

Relief spread through her veins, until she glanced at Kassian’s crossed arms.

“What about you?” She swallowed hard. “Are you going to stop me?”

He sighed and rolled his shoulders. “Nope. You’ve earned this.” He winked and a quirk curved one corner of his mouth. “Now…” He dropped his voice to a murmur. “How about we find ourselves a nice room…at a different hotel?”

Her body tingled and warmth spread through her veins. Sex. With Kassian. Again.

Her vulnerable state and yearning heart warred against the reasoning of her mind. There wasn’t supposed to be another time. Because then there’d be another. And another. She’d never learn how to refuse him.

Because she didn’t want to.

Apparently, her hesitation was enough to dissuade him.

“Got it.” Kassian backed away from her toward the lobby doors.

It killed her to let him conclude she didn’t desire him, but it was better this way. He might not be in love with her yet—he hadn’t spoken those words. She’d pretend he didn’t feel them. Chalk it up to lust. It would hurt him less to end things here and now.