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“What?” That word I know I say, because it would have been impossible for me to keep it on lock. Not after that little revelation that Cohen,my Cohen, dated a freaking witch hunter?
“He’s not yours!” Suzie snarls at me. “He’s mine. He’ll always be mine. He loved me first.” Oh, I want to slap this crazy bitch. I want to beat her so hard she doesn’t see straight for a fucking week.
“Wildcard,” Cohen says quietly, a reminder that I’m supposed to do something. I slap my hand over my mouth and focus on my shadow, my kitsune, my umbra demon.
Kohaku. Are you there?
Little warrior,he sounds so relieved, but also far away.Call me back to you.
I don’t know how.
Just… tell me you need me, and I will come.
Surely, it can’t be that simple. If it was, wouldn’t I have already called him back? Like when I was being beaten?
You did not want me then. You did not want me to get hurt. So you kept me away. Call me back,please.
I don’t miss the begging in his voice, so instead I close my eyes and think with every fiber of my being,Kohaku, I need you.
The room goes dark. Every light in the entire room goes out. Or no… They’re still on. I can hear the buzz of electricity, but there’s an inky black surrounding us, one that feels familiar and safe. What feels like a hand strokes down my spine, soothing me. “Kohaku,” I murmur into the dark.
Cohen steps back into me, leaving his hand on my hip to keep our bodies close together. “We need to run, wildcard. I opened a portal and we need to get to it now.” His hurried words are covered by the panicked voices of the hunters, by Suzie shouting to find us. But we haven’t even moved yet. We’re still in the same place.
I nod, even though I’m sure he can’t see me, but I don’t want to risk removing my hand from my mouth because that would mean I might start spouting his plan. “It’s outside their perimeter, though, Ro. So it’s going to be a run. Are you up for it?”
I press my forehead into his back and nod, so he can feel it, while squeaking out a ‘yes’ behind my palm.
“Good girl.” Cohen laces his fingers with my free hand and pulls me forward on silent feet. “Kohaku, provide whatever coverage for our girl that you can, yeah?”
There isn’t a response, but I’m sure that if he could, Kohaku would grumble that Cohen doesn’t even need to ask that.
We inch forward, slowly, silently. Chanting reaches my ears and once again, the fact that witch hunters have to use magic in order to do their jobs strikes me as totally hypocritical. Like, it’s okay forthemto use magic, but not us? And not me? I haven’t hurt anyone with my power. I haven’t done anything to warrant being scooped up, interrogated and beaten.
One could argue that they’ve done worse things with magic than I ever have or likely will.
I hear someone utter the words, “fuck this,” a moment before the too loud sound of gunfire reaches my ears and steals my hearing. The bright bursts of light break Kohaku’s shadow and bullets rip from the gun.
Cohen’s grip on my hand tightens, as whoever the fuck that is fires blinding into the dark, apparently not caring if they hit us or one of their own. Our feet fly over the cement, until we burst out into a hall, and the shadow releases us.
Kohaku!
I will be with you shortly, little warrior. Run.
He sounds alright, not at all like the bullets hurt him, and I suppose in this form maybe they can’t. Cohen pulls me along behind him and I focus on making my feet move to keep up with him. My hand drops from my mouth to pump at my side, since I figure they’ll be able to see us now, anyway.
We round a corner, and Cohen pulls up short, so I slam into his back. He releases my hand. I grab onto his shirt to keep upright. “Stay here,” he murmurs before darting forward, leaving me leaning against the wall. He moves so fast I can hardly track him, and before I know it he has some witch hunter on the ground, a gun in his hand and he’s firing a round directly into the man’s forehead. Breathing heavily, Cohen keeps the gun, grabs my hand and we’re running again.
Cohen killed someone. He killed them so that we could get out, so that I would be safe. I briefly wonder how many people he’s killed before, and he flicks a glance over his shoulder at me.
“More than I care to admit, wildcard.”
Damn.I apparently thought that out loud. This stupid potion or whatever they gave me is the absolute worst. Cohen chuckles as we reach a door and burst through it until we’re outside.
“Where are we?” I ask, panting, because your girl does not run in the best of times. And right now, with my body bruised and beaten is definitely not the best of times. Not even a little.
Cohen shakes his head, still tugging me forward. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Where arethey?” I don’t have to specify who I mean. I can’t believe that he would have come here without them. Surely they would have worked together to get me safe. By the tightening of his mouth, I can tell he doesn’t want to tell me. And that’s answer enough to know.
