Corpse Curses

by Jen Ponce

  Finally, finally, Lux held out his hand to me and I took it, feeling the warmth of his skin with a silly sort of relief. Baph slid her arm around my waist and then we fell sideways through reality, that jolting, sickening lurch before we were all standing in my apartment in Hell’s Mudroom.

  “Thanks,” I said, only a little queasy at the ride. I smiled at Lux, who squeezed my hand before setting me free. We were okay. That’s what that meant, right? Before I could get too ridiculous, I pushed thoughts of Lux out of my head and called, “Poppy?” I went through the apartment quickly but found no trace of her. Either she hadn’t been home or she’d only grabbed a few things before leaving again. “Do you have the power to hunt her down?” I asked my hound.

  Was he mine?

  Was I being too proprietary?

  Dear crow, where was all this coming from?

  “Yes, if you have something of hers I can smell.”

  I went into Poppy’s room and brought him her favorite sweater. He pressed it to his nose and breathed deeply, then nodded. “Okay. Let’s see if we can find her.” He wiggled his fingers and Baphomet put her hand in his, then he whispered a word. “Not far but moving away from us fast. She must be in a car. Come.” He touched me lightly and then we were on a street corner in the middle of a crowd of protesters shouting about wage stagnation and oppression. Only one man noticed our abrupt appearance and his sudden shouts of horror went unnoticed amidst the rest.

  Connor’s car was idling at the light, Poppy in the passenger seat. We got to the corner as the light turned green and they pulled ahead of us, but I thought I knew where they were going now. Connor’s parents had a house on the Chugwater. It was still within Hell’s Mudroom, so it would still be subject to the raids if Adam wasn’t able to put a stop to them, but it would be one of the last places the Keepers would search. Even within the Witch’s District there was a hierarchy. Magi admired money and admired those who had it, and Connor’s parents had it.

  “Can you take us to a place I hold in my head?” I asked Lux.

  “I can,” the female said. “If you allow me into your mind.”

  I eyed her, unsure if I wanted to trust this stranger with my mind. Except I had to save Poppy, didn’t I? What was coming was my fault. Whether or not she wanted to be saved was another matter. “Fine.”

  She took my hand in her surprisingly delicate one and then I felt her magic brush up against me, soft as a purring kitten. I shivered at the gentle paw, paw, paw of my memories and then she withdrew, though she left the memory of that sensual touch behind. “Oh my.” There was a moment of silence while she rooted through my head, then she said, “I have it. Thank you.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, I wasn’t sure what, and then we were falling sideways through reality again.

  The house on Chugwater was a cute two-story that sat on stilts to keep it out of harm’s way when the river overflowed its banks, which happened often. Anyone whose house wasn’t on stilts didn’t have a house for long. Connor’s parents had painted the home a cheery blue. Life preservers decorated the stilts, along with anchors and nautical swag that made the place look like a cheery bed and breakfast.

  Baphomet started for the house, but I touched her arm. “I need to go on my own. I’m afraid Poppy won’t appreciate seeing either of you.”

  The female glanced at Lux, her expression unreadable. Lux said, “We’ll hide ourselves, but we’ll be nearby if you need us.”

  “Thank you.”

  I sat on the steps to wait, thinking it would be a few minutes, but an hour passed with me looking at my watch wondering if I’d made a mistake in not following the car. What if they’d gotten taken on the way here? What if she was already in the clutches of the damned magi?

  I rose, intending to ask Lux to help find her when I saw Connor’s car come tearing up the small drive. I knew they saw me because instead of immediately getting out of the car, they sat inside, engine idling. Would she yell at me again? Ignore me? It didn’t matter. I’d offer her the chance to get out with me and if she didn’t take it … I wasn’t sure what I would do.

  I sat back down and waited some more.

  Finally, the car door opened. Poppy’s. She flashed Connor a ‘wait’ finger and then stalked over to me, stomping through the river grass that grew in clumps along the shore. “What are you doing here?”

  A breeze kicked up, sending the marshy smell of the river past our faces and tugging at our hair. Somewhere a gull’s cry was abruptly cut off. Something had caught its dinner. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and prayed she’d listen to me. “You need to get out. Now. They’re going to be looking for you. Because of Kyle’s death.” I cleared my throat at the utter hatred in her eyes. “Because I killed Kyle,” I amended. “You don’t have to forgive me, you just have to get out, get somewhere safe.”

  “Of course they’re coming for me. Because you fucking went off the rails and …” She took a deep breath as if remember where we were and looked around. “I don’t want or need your help. I think you’ve done enough.”

  “Poppy—”

  “Fuck. Off.” Her pain was plain on her face and I’d been the one to put it there. If I could have taken it back, I would have. Anything to make her not hate me.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Her lip trembled, which only made her angrier. “Everything we worked for, everything we waited for. We could have grabbed him without any trouble if you’d just waited. If you’d given me time to plan it out, but no. You had to scratch your damned itch. Well, you know what? Good for you. I hope it really made your day. I hope it was worth it.” She pulled out her phone and waggled it at me. “Not sorry for what you did. That’s what you said. So I don’t believe you’re fucking sorry now.”

  I tried tamping down my anger, told myself she was hurt and rightfully so, but it didn’t work. I surged to my feet. “I’m not sorry about killing him. I’m sorry that this is happening, I’m sorry they’re coming after you. I—” Sirens cut off my words. I looked down the road to the north and saw Keeper cars roaring up the drive. “Poppy, come with me. You can be pissed at me but come with me. Lux can take us—” I reached for her, but she jerked away.

  “No! I’m not going with you and your stupid fucking demons,” she said, though her voice trembled, and her face filled with fear.

  “Please. I don’t want them to take you.”

  “Then tell them the truth! Tell them you killed him!”

  The words were like a slap in the face.

  I had always planned to offer myself up as the guilty party if they came for us, but it hurt to hear how easily she gave me up. “I can get us all out of here without any trouble.”

  She scoffed as the cars screeched to a halt and doors opened, shouts filling the night air. “Do you really think there’d be no trouble if we disappeared? They’d just kill witches until I gave myself up. You know that.”

  I did.

  A chorus of shouts came. “Hands up! Freeze!”

  Sick to my stomach, I turned into the lights and held up my hands, willing the demons to stay in the shadows, hidden. If they were taken too, there would be no one to save me because I intended to confess rather than let Poppy get taken in. She’d said some nasty things, but we were still friends. I wouldn’t betray her now and I wouldn’t let her betray me. Someday she might regret that.

  “Poppy Ballinger,” the nearest Keeper barked. “We are arresting you for the murder of—”

  “I did it,” I said, stepping in front of Poppy. “It was me. I killed Kyle Klein.”

  A weird silence fell over them as they absorbed this. Then I was hit by a stunner and sent sprawling. Not knocked out, but unable to move or talk. I could move my eyeballs and that was about it.

  “Poppy Ballinger, step forward slowly, hands above your head.”

  What the ever-loving fuck? They were taking her anyway? I had just confessed.

  “I didn’t do anything,” she said, her voice high and desperate. “Sh
e was telling you the truth.”

  The words stabbed at me, but they were true. She hadn’t helped me with Kyle at all, hadn’t even known about it until after. Why the fuck were they taking her, then?

  Did Grandmother have something to do with this? The Marchand name? Could they not conceive of a magus perpetrator, even one who was half witch, if it meant implicating one of their oldest families? I wanted to scream at them, wanted to describe Kyle’s injuries to them so vividly they would have no choice but to believe me, but I couldn’t fucking move a muscle.

  Flesh hit flesh and Poppy cried out. A thump. Did she fall? What was happening?

  “Leave her be, you fucks!” Connor shouted. More thumps. A scream from Poppy. There was noise like a scuffle, and then the dragging of feet. Car doors slamming. A motor revving and tires popping on gravel.

  They’d taken her and left me unable to move.

  Fuck.

  I strained, trying to break the stunner’s hold, but I was well and truly frozen. Thank Hecate for the sound of footsteps nearing. When the shadow fell over me, I expected Lux or Baph.

  I didn’t expect him.

  His eyes were cold as he stared down at me. “I did what you asked. I stopped the raid.”

  That wasn’t what I meant, you bastard. If I’d been able to speak, to move, I would have lashed out but I couldn’t do anything but wish I could murder him with my eyes.

  “Was it really you? Who killed Kyle?” He tipped his head like a curious dog. “I think maybe it was. What would you do to keep that information quiet, Korri? What would you do to keep me from telling your grandmother? Or my father?” He chuckled. “Come see me when you know the answer.” He straightened and walked away.

  29

  Lux freed me, dusting me off while I worked to unstick my brain. Poppy was gone, as was Connor. They must have taken him too for trying to stop Poppy’s arrest. I hoped they hadn’t killed him.

  My mind went back to Adam’s presence. He’d brought the Keepers. He’d pointed them at Poppy because of my big, dumb mouth and then he’d had the gall to threaten me. I wanted to find him right then and drive my runed knife through his fucking heart.

  “Someone’s thinking murderous thoughts,” Baphomet purred.

  So much murder, but I had to save Poppy first. Killing Adam wouldn’t solve that problem. Being blackmailed by him wouldn’t either, though. I considered, then said, “If he thinks I owe him, he’ll think he’s got all the power.” Could I use that to save Poppy?

  “Are we planning murder, mayhem, or manipulation?”

  “Yes,” I said absently, then blinked. “I have to get her free. She’s my friend and she didn’t kill Kyle. I can’t let the magi hang her for that.”

  Lux nodded. “We’ll help. Whatever you need.”

  “Why?” I realized when I said it that I was echoing the demons I’d freed from the crystals.

  “I care about you,” he said easily.

  Emotion welled inside me, threatening to overspill. I’d obviously been riding too much adrenaline if I was ready to get all weepy eyed at that. Then again, I hadn’t had anyone say that about me in a long time, had I? “I care about you too,” I said, and it was true, not just words to parrot back to keep a situation from getting awkward. I meant it. Holy shit. “But I don’t want to risk you getting caught again.”

  He shrugged. “So we figure out a solution. Surely if we all put our heads together, we can keep each other safe until we bring about the downfall of the magi.”

  Downfall of the magi. I liked the sound of that. How would they deal in a world where they were the lower-class citizens? I hoped we would get to find out. “Great. Let’s do it. Where do we go?”

  “Stolas’s,” Lux said, exchanging a glance with Baph that I couldn’t decipher. What the fuck was going on?

  I didn’t know and it looked like I wasn’t going to be finding out anytime soon either.

  We tipped sideways through time and space and I was back inside the shop that held so many intriguing secrets. Once again, I wanted to explore and once again, I didn’t have time.

  As soon as we got there, Malphas and Abaddon arrived. Stolas, who hadn’t yet acknowledged us, stiffened when he saw Abaddon. I wondered why, then hoped I’d find the answers to even a few of the eleventy billion questions I had swimming around in my head.

  “Little mortal,” Abaddon said, his ice-blue eyes warm as they raked my body.

  Now that was a greeting, Lux, I thought. “Kill buddy,” I said in return and he grinned.

  Stolas rounded the counter with a book and a knife in his hands. When he passed by Malphas, he stopped. Stared. “You’re whole.”

  “Yes. She freed the other piece of me.” He nodded at me, his gaze warm as well.

  Stolas turned to me, eyes alight with something I didn’t understand. “Thank you.”

  I shrugged. I wanted to say that anyone would do it, but I knew that wasn’t true. There were a lot of people who would turn a blind eye, claiming it wasn’t their problem to fix. It was the right thing to do, so I did it. No big deal. Wasn’t like I was a paragon of virtue anyway, considering my favorite pastime was divesting magi of their lives.

  “What are we doing here?” Abaddon asked. “Baph. Welcome home.”

  She wrinkled her nose at him. “Such as it is.”

  “We have a plan,” Abaddon said. “Stolas is going to find us Paimon and we’re going to free him.”

  “I always like Pursy,” Baph purred. “He found me fire opals as big as my fist.” She held out her hand as if to admire an imaginary gem, then signed. “I miss those days.”

  “We’ll get him back, then the others. Then we will bring those days back in full,” Abaddon growled.

  Malphas had been watching Stolas and he said, “What is this?”

  Stolas looked down at the book and knife as if he’d forgotten he held them. “Protection. For all of us.”

  It wasn’t quite the truth. I wasn’t sure how I knew that or even if I was right … but I thought I was. Something strange was happening, I knew that much. I just didn’t know what.

  “Let’s get on with it then,” Malphas said.

  “We need to hide what happens, which means we need a circle. A powerful one,” Stolas said. “Let’s go downstairs.”

  We all assembled downstairs where we’d put Malphas in a crystal. Stolas had scrubbed the room clean and the circle inscribed in the floor gleamed. Each of the demons stood at a different point of the five-pointed star but Stolas and me. He put the knife down at my feet and moved to the empty point, where he began to read. “Points five, hear me well. Seal this room from prying eyes. Cover us with silence and shadows. Hide our power here.”

  As far as spells went, it wasn’t very lyrical, but it obviously got the job done because power, enough power to make my eyes water, rose all around me. The hairs on the back of my neck rose with it.

  “Korri? Pick up the knife.”

  The knife he’d placed at my feet now glowed blue-black with power.

  “Is that Lilith’s knife?” Malphas asked.

  “Yes,” I heard Stolas say as if from far away.

  “Korri, don’t!” Lux shouted, but I was too entranced by the gleam on the blade to pay him any mind. Magic danced along its edge and I wanted to taste it. I bent. When my hand touched it, lightning went off in my brain and I felt myself falling, falling …

  … falling. The world was aglow with red. My consort was at my side, a gorgeous demon with so much power it leaked out of his skin like black flowers blossoming. Death spirits surrounded him, surrounded us, and the taste of them, the heady energy of them was orgasmic. All around us, demons bowed, consorted, gamboled like puppies. A hellhound sat on either side of us, their broad, noble heads serene as they did their duty and guarded us.

  We had ruled this place for a thousand years and it would be a thousand and a thousand more before we were through.

  My consort lifted my hand to his lips and kissed the soft flesh there, his
lips curling up over his sharp, sharp teeth.

  The vision ripped through with magic, screams filled my ears, demons vanished with a bloody pop of sound and then I was ripped from my throne to a magus’s house. The smell of rich loam, of rotting plants, of greenery, filled my nose. Magi spoke with me, bargaining, talking, filling my head with their chatter. And then the hooks sank into me, ripped at me, pulled the inner core of me free. I exploded but before I did, I heard a child scream. Her voice, it pulled me. Her power. Her line. She was me.

  I ripped free of the hooks, shattered though I was, and arrowed for that scream …

  … I woke on the ground, head spinning, nose bleeding, ears ringing from the vision. The knife, thankfully, had fallen from my hand. I pushed myself to my knees, head still spinning, and when I moved, my stomach rebelled violently. I ralphed all over Stolas’s pretty circle, sure my head was going to split with every heave.

  “She’s magic sick. What the ever-loving fuck were you doing, Stolas?” Malphas was near me but not touching me, his grey eyes concerned.

  “I—” I started, but my stomach wasn’t through ripping up my insides.

  “We thought she might be Lilith’s vessel,” Stolas snapped.

  “We?” His eyes went to those assembled.

  Baphomet shrugged. “I did not know what he had in mind. Certainly not this.”

  “Our queen is in there,” Stolas said. “She—”

  “Shut up,” Abaddon roared. “Not right now. She needs tending before that magic rips her apart.”

  Soon they had me in the circle, their hands on me, their magic trying to wind its way around the stuff raging through me. It wasn’t working, but it was nice of them to try. This would be my swan song, I thought. My only regret would be not saving Poppy before I bit the big one.

  “Korri, knock it off,” Lux said.

  I cracked open an eye, though the dancing magic made it hard to focus. “What? Dying?”