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“Then seek the goshanti.” His arms were still raised above his head. Mine were wide at my sides still, and I directed the energy to spread from my fingertips, to search and find the devil. It trailed out like smoke, swirling through the trees, seeking, probing, searching for the signature of the goshanti.
Like a mist, the vapor carried my vision with it and through a haze I could see a cat hiding under a fern, a garter snake gliding through the foliage, insects and birds looking for food. And then, the mist stopped in a patch of Scotch broom. There. Behind the thick-branched weeds. The swirl of color that marked the goshanti. During the day she showed as a ball of energy, at night she could take form.
“Found her,” I whispered. “Use me.”
Morio drew on the threads from the Netherworld, mixing the energy and binding it to his own, forming the spell to send the devil back to the realm from which she’d come. The power darted along the cords, sparkling like lights. Morio swayed to the music of the realm that pulsated along with the magic. As it hit his hands, he channeled it down through me, sweeping his arms down to fasten his grasp on my shoulders.
The sudden flush caught me up in the dance. Together we soared in the astral, our bodies still firmly grounded Earthside. We spun around each other, mating snakes entwining. Morio laughed, throaty and raw, and his joy raced out to include me. The power of the dead, the power of that dark realm was so much more than it appeared. A fire raced through my body, sending me into an orgasm.
Morio stroked my chin and whispered, “I love you. I love you more than I love life, Camille.”
I traced his lips. “You are one of my chosen,” I said, feeling his tongue curl around my finger. “You are one of my great loves and we’ll always be together. We’re bound for eternity, my youkai, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. And when it’s our turn to cross over, we’ll pound down these gates together, and you will enter the Land of the Silver Falls with me.”
“We should take care of the goshanti,” he said, his thoughts curling around me like a warm embrace.
“Use me, direct me, guide me.” I reluctantly turned back to the land, wanting nothing more than to hang out on the astral. But we had work to do.
As we settled into the rhythm of the energy, Morio tapped me on the shoulder and I stood, guiding him toward the goshanti. I could barely see the land around me, the colors were so brilliant and amplified. There was a definite disconnect between my feet and my mind, but Morio steadied me. Something slithered over my shoes but it was just a snake, and I paid no attention.
And then we were there, next to the goshanti. She was asleep, and in her slumber I felt sorry for her. I could see how she’d come to be born. Her body, her essence, was a swirl of pain, of anger, of heartbreak and torture. Tears began to slide down my cheeks as I watched her, curled in a ball like a cat.
“You poor thing,” I whispered. “The world can be so fucked up, and you’re just as much a victim as those you prey on.”
Morio squeezed my shoulder in agreement. “We have no choice, Camille. She’ll hurt other innocents if we leave her be. When we send her back to the Netherworld, she’ll be with others of her own kind.”
“Can’t we kill her? Put her out of her misery? It’s no life, to live in hatred and bitterness like this. No matter where you are.”
I didn’t like hearing myself talk like this, but if it were me, I’d rather be dead than live my life a shell, acting out of pain condensed drop by drop from women who’d succumbed to horrendous deaths.
With a slow sigh, Morio nodded. “We can. Are you sure?”
I bit my lip, thinking again that death magic was a nebulous path, a thin line between the power to repel, and the abuse of power.
“I’m not sure of anything anymore.” I shrugged. “But if we kill her, the energy is free to disperse, to be cleansed and renewed. We freed spirits earlier, this will just be ridding the world of another trapped memory of pain.”
“Then we use the Mordente spell, but rather than the banis, we use the despera chant.” He held out his hand and I took it, closing my eyes.
The power filled my lungs with the taste of graveyard soil and dust, of the hand of glory and the hand of might. I licked my lips and joined in as he began the incantation. Again, I would be the focus for the energy as it traveled through him, through me, toward the goshanti.
“Mordente reto, mordente reto, mordente reto despera.”
The goshanti opened her eyes, still in her energetic form rather than physical. She lifted her head and gazed at us, her glowing eyes curious.
“Mordente reto, mordente reto, mordente reto despera.”
I could feel the energy quake through me as a breeze sprang up. The rain began to fall again, the sky dark with threatening thunderheads. The goshanti opened her mouth and let out a whimper.
“Mordente reto, mordente reto, mordente reto despera.”
Morio’s will was strong, and mine as well. The spell raced through us now, alive and aware on its own, affixed to its target. I focused on the goshanti, willing her to go quietly, willing her to accept that if she allowed us to release her, the pain she felt would cycle back to the universe, cleansed and renewed in joy.
“Mordente reto, mordente reto, mordente reto despera.”
Morio’s voice thundered above mine, and his direction was absolute. I hesitated a moment, but remembered how the devil had come to be and steeled myself. Together, our voices danced on the breeze, spun in a whirlwind of autumn leaves, blotted out the life force of the goshanti.
“Mordente reto, mordente reto, mordente reto despera.” As Morio continued with the incantation, I took up the counter-rhythm.
“Go to peace, go to rest, go to slumber, go to your ancestors, go to the dark depths of the world and let go your body, go back to the realm from which you came, disperse on the wind, disperse on the rain, disperse to the flames, disperse to the soil—”
