Night Kiss

by E. T. Malinowski

JONG-IN WALKED out of the restaurant as he answered the phone. “What do you want?”

  “I want my wife and my daughter back, you little shit,” Kang-dae demanded.

  “They were never yours,” Jong-in said, his shoulders tensing up. There was something off about Kang-dae. His voice didn’t sound right. It sounded like the whispers from the cemetery, but it was hard to tell over the phone.

  “She was always mine!”

  The blow came out of nowhere, striking Jong-in solidly in the cheek. He stumbled. Before he could regain his footing, he was knocked to the ground and then dragged into the alley. Kang-dae grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

  “I should have gotten rid of you the minute he was dead,” Kang-dae growled, smashing his fist into his face again and again. “He had no right. She was mine from the minute I saw her. And now, now you humiliate me with that disgusting display on live television! Kissing a man, fucking a man. You’re an abomination. You’re a waste, useless, nothing but garbage.”

  “Fuck you!” Jong-in said as he swung wildly, catching Kang-dae in the jaw and sending him flying against the wall. He rolled to his knees. The alley was cold and deathly still. As Jong-in stood up, things shimmered as if he were looking at a double-exposed photo. Shadows darted here and there, moving all around, but he couldn’t get a fix on them. Something was not right He spun around, trying to locate Kang-dae, but the alley seemed empty. It was so disorienting, nothing stood still like it should. The two-by-four slammed into his shoulders and he crashed into the ground, his head connecting with the concrete. His vision blurred, and he couldn’t orient himself. Then the blackness crept in, and Jong-in collapsed, barely registering his stepfather’s words.

  “I’m going to kill you, and then I’m going to get my wife and daughter.”

  Jin-woo

  “NOPE, NOT doing it. Let’s go,” Jin-woo said, standing up from the table. Everyone stared at him. “What? He’s been gone too long for a simple phone call. Something isn’t right, and I’m not going to sit here and wait to find out what it is.”

  He left the table and hurried toward the front of the restaurant. The sound of chairs scraping against the floor followed. He didn’t wait for them but simply headed out the doors.

  The sound of fists hitting flesh caught Jin-woo’s attention, and he ran, but HanYin was faster. He rounded the corner of the restaurant into the alley just in time to see Jong-in on the ground, unmoving and bloodied, his stepfather, Kang-dae, raining blows on him. A loud roar battered the air, and HanYin’s kick sent Kang-dae crashing into the wall at the end of the alley, HanYin following. The growling and snarling coming from him was terrifying. But Jin-woo couldn’t think about that now. He started toward Jong-in, only to have Ki-tae stop him. He looked at Ki-tae in question and saw him jerk his chin toward the other end of the alley.

  When Kang-dae finally gave up trying to stand, HanYin stopped. He stood over the huge man, his chest heaving, clenching and unclenching his hands, bloodied. Jin-woo watched him visibly grab hold of himself. He turned and walked back toward them, his eyes still blazing silver and his fangs barely hidden. Though people had flooded the alley, no one got close. HanYin knelt next to Jong-in. Gently he touched his face and then scooped Jong-in into his arms, holding him close to his chest as he walked out of the alley. He didn’t say a word to anyone. He didn’t need to. No one stopped him or got in his way.

  “HanYin will take care of him,” Ki-tae said, draping an arm around Jin-woo’s shoulders. “He’s in the safest hands right now.”

  “I know,” Jin-woo said, wiping angrily at the tears. “I’m not crying because of that. I’m crying because I’m so fucking angry right now I could seriously hurt that man.”

  “He won’t be getting up anytime soon, not without assistance. I can hear his breathing from here,” Ki-tae said quietly. “If HanYin hadn’t stopped himself, the bastard would be dead, but Jong-in came first.”

  “Bastard is too kind a word for him,” Jin-woo growled, wrapping his arms around Ki-tae’s waist.

  “He is,” Yeong-ja said quietly. “He always has been. I should never have allowed him into our home once Jong-su had passed. I should have sent him away. Instead I allowed him to hurt my son and imprison my daughter and myself in his home.”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Yeong-ja-nim. Some people are just jerks,” Min-su said as she put her arms around Jong-in’s mother. “You were grieving, and he took advantage of that.”

  “I should have protected my children,” she cried.

  She buried her face in Min-su’s shoulder. Min-su looked at Jin-woo and Ki-tae, inclining her head toward the restaurant. Then she took Yeong-ja inside. Yeong-hui, Jong-in’s sister, walked over to her stepfather. She stared down at him, and Jin-woo wondered what was going through her head.

  “I used to be terrified of him,” she said softly. “Now he looks so pathetic.”

  “Bullies often are when they meet someone stronger than they are,” Cheongul said.

  “You are like my brother and myself, aren’t you?” she asked, looking at Cheongul.

  “Yourself?” Jin-woo said, and she gave him that “duh” look all teenagers seemed to master the minute they hit puberty.

  “I can see it,” she said. “Min-su unnie is more like us than Cheongul oppa and Ki-tae oppa, but you’re not like us at all, Jin-woo oppa.”

  “No, I’m not,” Jin-woo said, feeling that difference keenly now.

  “We’re… similar but not the same,” Cheongul said carefully. “Look, the police are here. Why don’t we continue this inside after they’ve taken out the trash?”

  “Are there more like us? Like Jong-in oppa and me?” she asked, and for a moment, she was a frightened little girl.

  “Yes. We’ll introduce you to him. I think you and Hyun-jo-nim will get along just fine.”

  “Hyun-jo oppa? He came with Jong-in oppa that day, the day we moved,” she said as she blushed. “He’s very pretty.”

  “He is.” Jin-woo chuckled.

  “Hey!” Ki-tae said. “What am I?”

  “Handsome, sexy, adorable? All mine?” Jin-woo said. “Pick one.”

  “All of the above.” Ki-tae grinned and pulled him into a kiss just as the ambulance pulled up.

  Kang-dae was hauled away to the hospital with a police escort. One of the officers gently insisted they needed to see Jong-in. That was an interesting encounter. It took Ki-tae and Cheongul to convince HanYin to let anyone into the room. Jong-in had regained consciousness, but he really didn’t need to speak. The black eyes, swollen lip, and darkening bruises all over his torso said plenty. Yeong-ja brought in a first aid kit and set about tending her son while HanYin hovered. Jin-woo was pretty sure if she hadn’t been Jong-in’s mother, she wouldn’t have gotten within a foot of him. Ki-tae kept their attention off HanYin, as his eyes were still flashing back and forth.

  When they were finally left alone, HanYin crawled carefully into the bed with Jong-in, heedless of his mother being right there. He curled around him, and that was that, but the smile on Yeong-ja’s face said she had no problem with it. Clearly HanYin loved her boy, and that’s all that mattered to her. Then she reached for HanYin’s hand, and everyone tensed. He growled softly.

  “Shush,” she admonished as she dabbed at his bloodied knuckles. “Thank you for saving my son.”

  HanYin’s growls quieted, much to Jin-woo’s surprise. He glanced at Ki-tae, who simply shrugged. Then he pulled Jin-woo out of the room. “That was… the weirdest experience I’ve ever had…. Well, except for stalker bitch.”

  “She exudes calmness and love,” Ki-tae said. “HanYin senses that. I think there’s a little bit of spiritual blood on her side of the family.”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me. I just wish none of this had happened. We were having such a nice time.”

  “True, but now he’s out of the picture for good, and Jong-in-a won’t have to worry about his mother and sister,” Cheongul said from his seat at the table as they came into
the dining room.

  “What an ass,” Min-su grumbled.

  “Very true,” Jin-woo said. “I think we should head out, give them some time to rest. Jong-in-a isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and neither is HanYin-a.”

  “You’re right,” Cheongul said. “We’ll come back another time and bring Abeoji and Hyun-jo-nim with us.”

  They said their goodbyes to Yeong-ja and Yeong-hui and then to each other. Min-su left with Cheongul, and Ki-tae and Jin-woo headed back to his apartment.

  They kicked off their shoes in the front hall, and then Jin-woo padded to the living room, going down the two steps and stretching out on the couch. He sighed, thinking about all that had happened over the last few months. The only thing hanging over his head was Mei’s trial. He didn’t really want to go through that. Given she attacked Bam Kiseu, sabotaged a concert hall, injured about thirty innocent people, and shot someone with a, more than likely, illegal firearm, tried to run over Ki-tae twice, destroyed and then cleaned his apartment, it was going to be a media circus. Ki-tae came over and pulled him into his lap, snuggling close.

  “You look exhausted and sad,” he said.

  “I’m just thinking,” he said, resting his head on Ki-tae’s shoulder. “It seems like everything is over except the trial, and I really am not looking forward to that. I don’t think she’ll go to prison, anyway. They only have to listen to her talk to know she’s insane. They’ll lock her up in some institution instead.”

  “Either way, she won’t be able to come after you and me again,” Ki-tae said. “I think I can live with that.”

  “I suppose.” He snuggled against Ki-tae’s chest, yawning.

  “So sleepy.” Ki-tae chuckled as he stood and carried Jin-woo into the bedroom. “And here I thought I would get lucky tonight.”

  “Hm.” Jin-woo laughed softly. “Maybe later.”

  “I can wait for later,” Ki-tae said. He stripped them both, climbed into the bed, and pulled Jin-woo’s back to his chest. “Is it later?”

  Jin-woo burst out laughing. He rolled into Ki-tae’s embrace, giggling against his chest. “You’re such a sex fiend.”

  “Only with you,” Ki-tae murmured, nuzzling his neck.

  “You’re obsessed with my neck.”

  “It’s one of my favorite places to bite,” Ki-tae purred. “Your scent is strongest there and here.”

  He slid his finger along the sensitive skin between his legs where thigh met hip. Jin-woo gasped as shivers danced over his skin. He parted his thighs wider and pulled Ki-tae to him by the shoulders as he rolled onto his back. He smiled up at Ki-tae. “It’s later.”

  “Good,” Ki-tae said before taking his mouth in a slow, sweet kiss.

  Jin-woo whimpered softly, hooked his legs over Ki-tae’s hips, and bucked upward, rubbing their erections together and spreading slick precum between them. He wanted Ki-tae inside him, but strangely, was in no hurry to get him there. He wanted this slow buildup. He wanted to feel the tension tightening inside him. He caressed the long line of Ki-tae’s back, kneading his flexing buttocks as Ki-tae answered his movements with thrusts of his own. Fingers danced, teased, prepared, and then were replaced by the hard length of Ki-tae’s cock sliding slowly inside him. He loved the way he could feel himself stretching to accommodate Ki-tae’s length and girth. He loved the connection that seemed to grow stronger each time they made love, and Jin-woo realized he wanted this forever. He pulled from Ki-tae’s kisses and cupped his face, holding perfectly still, though he wanted to writhe beneath him.

  “Ki-tae?”

  “Yes.”

  “How do we complete the bond?”

  Ki-tae froze above him, his eyes wide with shock at first and then softening and filling with love. Jin-woo smiled.

  “You… you want to complete it? You want to spend forever… with me?”

  “I do.” Jin-woo felt the joy bubbling within him, and it came out in a happy laugh. “I want to spend forever with you, Jung Ki-tae.”

  Ki-tae pushed up on his forearm and snatched his phone off the nightstand. It took him several attempts to dial the number he wanted. “Halmeonim, how do Jin-woo and I complete the bond?”

  Jin-woo heard ChenBao clearly and laughed. Apparently she was ecstatic at the news. He couldn’t hear what she said after her squeal, and yes, she squealed, but Ki-tae was being very attentive. “Can we do it now, or do we have to wait? Okay, yes. I understand.”

  Jin-woo watched Ki-tae blush furiously. “Halmeonim! Can we do the ceremony part later? Awesome. Gomabseumnida, Halmeonim!”

  He hung up the phone and put it back on the nightstand. Jin-woo looked at him expectantly. “We don’t need to do anything super special. Usually there’s a ceremony involved, a ritual, but Halmeonim says it’s not really necessary, as it really just acts as a guide for the energy itself.”

  “So? What do we have to do?”

  Jin-woo gasped when Ki-tae wrapped an arm around his waist and then shifted into a cross-legged sitting position, pushing himself deeper. “Damn, so good.”

  “Since you’re human, you don’t have the same control over your qi as Spiritual Beings do,” Ki-tae said in a low growl, clearly not unaffected by the change in position. “You’ll need to take some of my blood to open the pathways for our energies to merge together.”

  “Drink your blood?” Jin-woo said softly.

  Ki-tae smiled. “Don’t worry. Halmeonim gave me a suggestion on how to take your mind off that part, not that I really needed it.”

  Jin-woo watched the silver slowly bleed into Ki-tae’s eyes, and a shiver of anticipation shook his body. Ki-tae’s lip kicked up at the corner, showing his fangs lengthening. It was so slow Jin-woo almost didn’t notice it. Then Ki-tae was kissing him senseless.

  He responded, thrusting his tongue deep and licking at Ki-tae’s fangs. The resulting growl made his belly clench. Ki-tae thrust hard, nailing his prostate, and Jin-woo cried into his mouth. He met each upward thrust with a push of his hips, rolling them. He gripped Ki-tae’s shoulders, digging in his fingers, felt Ki-tae’s hands on his ass, teasing the stretched skin where they joined with his fingers. In all the overwhelming sensations, Jin-woo barely notice the coppery taste flavoring Ki-tae’s kisses. He just knew he wanted to go on kissing and making love with Ki-tae.

  Higher and higher they flew. When he had to breathe, Jin-woo pulled back to see the smirk on Ki-tae’s face and the blood smeared around his mouth. Jin-woo’s eyes went wide, and he licked his lips, tasting copper. Before he could react, the most amazing sensation flooded his body. He cried out as every nerve ending seemed to fire at once. Clinging to Ki-tae, Jin-woo rode out the amplified sensation of their combined orgasm, gasping for breath as he felt as if he were being torn apart and put back together again. It was too much, simply too much, and Jin-woo let go of consciousness to float on the cloud of pleasure swamping him.

  HYUN-JO LISTENED to the Qīngróu’s whispers as she gave him her report. It matched what the spirits had told him regarding Jong-su’s train accident. Much as he wished otherwise, it had not been an accident at all. Now, it was time to hunt. The question was did he hunt alone or with another?

  “Hyun-jo?” Soon-joon stepped out into the rock garden and carefully leapt to the rock he was sitting on. “What is wrong?”

  “It is nothing.”

  “Saiai.” Soon-joon’s voice held a warning.

  “Very well.” Hyun-jo sighed. “Kang-dae was possessed by an onryo. He claimed Yeong-ja dongsaeng was his, had been his. He killed a whole train full of people just to eliminate Jong-su dongsaeng, Jong-in-a’s father. It takes a lot to kill us if we have not reached full Celestial status, but it is possible.”

  “I recall that catastrophe,” Soon-joon said as he wrapped his arms around Hyun-jo. “They never figured out what caused it, did they?”

  “There was no way they could unless they could communicate with the spirits of the departed, and as far as I know, only Kitsune and Fèng-huáng can do so.”

>   “The spirit is still within Kang-dae?”

  “Yes. For all intents and purposes, the real Kang-dae is dead. The spirit has resided within the body for so long that the original spirit has wasted away. We will never know why he fixated on Yeong-ja dongsaeng, but he has caused their family nothing but pain. He terrorized the driver into losing control of the train.” Hyun-jo growled. “I gave him until the new moon to set Kang-dae’s affairs in order and leave. I told him what would happen if I found out he had anything to do with Jong-su dongsaeng’s death.”

  “Will you tell Jong-in-a?” Soon-joon asked as he nuzzled Hyun-jo’s temple. It had always soothed him in the past, but this time, Hyun-jo could not let go of his anger.

  “Yes, and then… we will hunt.”

  Soon-joon simply nodded.

  ChenBao

  CHENBAO FLOATED gracefully in the air, twisting this way and that sinuously. She loved the feel of the wind on her scales, pulling at her mane, and the kisses the wind spirits placed on her face. She had already checked on HanYin and Jong-in, sending healing qi into the young Kitsune to speed his recovery. Cheongul and Min-su were snug in bed at his apartment, curled around each other almost like puppies. Hyun-jo and Soon-joon were finally bonded and marked, so there were no worries there. Her son would not be so stupid as to let his little Fox go again.

  Even Ki-tae and Jin-woo were settled. Well, almost settled. There was one thing that hung over their heads, and ChenBao was not inclined to let it remain there. Perhaps she was an old-fashioned Dragon, but there were some insults and injuries she could not let go unanswered.

  THE CELL was dark and cold and lonely, and all she could hear was him singing. Singing, singing, always singing, sweet and light, an angel’s voice. Her Jin-woo, her sweet, naughty Jin-woo. Mei giggled. She wouldn’t go to jail. They’d lock her in some nice, quiet institution, and she’d play their game until she fooled them all. Then she would be released, cured of her “insanity,” and she would find him, find him and punish him, and then live happily ever after with him. They would leave Korea, leave Asia, go somewhere where they would never be found, and he would love her, oh, how he would love her.