Helena sipped the bitter tea before glancing at Camila. “What time?”
The jiang shi glanced at her watch before draining her own mug. “Twelve twentyfour.”
“Hm.” Helena set her mug down. “I was hoping for something earlier.”
“Thought that’s why you took a nap?” Camila said.
Helena sighed. “It was, but I hate being right.” She’d cried twice during the dinner, and while she felt better, she’d still needed to rest. Not even a magician could keep building up mental stress without becoming exhausted. “I’m sorry for leaving you to keep watch. Do you want to rest as well?”
“I’m good,” Camila tapped the coffee cup. “Like, I probably still need sleep, but I don’t think I need it as much as you. I’ve never really gotten tired.”
“Benefits of being dead I guess.” Helena stretched. She studied her friend’s face. Camila was hard to read, but Helena could see tear lines on the woman’s cheeks. Still the pain in her gaze was muted. She settled for pulling out a kerchief and reaching out to her friend. “May I?”
“Eh? Oh, right. Yeah thanks.” Camila leaned forward and Helena wiped the tracks from her face. “I’m fine now, it’s just-“
Helena gently cleaned beneath the woman’s eyes. “I know.”
“Hey-” The clear chime of a bell cut off Camila’s question with a wince. Helena frowned and looked down at her pouch. That was odd. That bell should only ring if someone was using magic on her, or if a fox demon was nearby.
Someone started pounding on her door and Helena stood. “It couldn’t be…” She quickly moved to the entrance.
“Doesn’t feel like an angel,” Camila said, popping to her feet.
Helena peered out the peephole. “Of all the people.” The universe was playing a cruel joke on someone here. But for once Helena thought it might not be her.
She opened the door right before the woman on the opposite side started knocking again. “Hello Kim Sui An. I wasn’t expecting you.”
Sui An glared up at her, eyes filled with hatred and shame. She looked almost like a normal woman if not for her fox ears and four bristling tails. Normally she had an aura of unearthly beauty around her as well, but right now her makeup was running, her hair was frazzled and she was nursing a cut in her side. “I request sanctuary,” the woman nearly spat. “The Tamamo family will repay you for your service to the fox tribe.”
Helena looked to make sure the kumiho hadn’t been followed. “If I was a nicer witch I’d offer you sanctuary just to see how you’d pay them back for this favor.” She glared at the fox demon. “Since I’m not, and because I have a brain, I demand you swear not to harm any resident of this building or my other apartment building before I let you in.”
Camila hopped up behind. “A kitsune?” she muttered.
Sui An snarled but quickly twisted her expression into a pout. “Please kind mistress, I need your help. Can you not convince your friend to have mercy upon me?” Magic laced the words, a honeyed trap for those without defenses.
Of course it was all utterly ineffective against Camila’s command seal. “Did she just try to charm me?” the jiang-shi woman asked Helena.
“Yes she did. Sui An’s a kumiho, which is like a kitsune, but instead of being capricious she murders people and eats their livers,” Helena said. “Also Korean instead of Japanese. And let’s add magical compulsions to the list of things you aren’t allowed to do to the residents of these fine buildings, Sui An.”
This time Sui An didn’t try to hide her growl of hatred. But the fox demon finally bowed. “I swear to not use my powers on anyone in these buildings, nor to bring harm upon them. Now let me in!”
Helena stepped aside. “I offer you sanctuary.” Sui An rushed past and Helena closed and locked the door behind her. She studied the fox demon as Sui An tried to compose herself. The cut in the woman’s side was shallow, but it wasn’t healing. It seemed her goddess had spoken true. “So, who are you running from?”
Sui An snarled, but after a moment she calmed again. “A creature of light and metal. It attacked me out of nowhere. I managed to escape by using my fox form.”
“That fake angel trying to get lust out of the way?” Camila asked.
“Possible. But Sui An is about as lustful as I am, no matter how much she flirts with her victims,” Helena replied. “And while many religious groups blame the woman being lusted after rather than the man doing the lusting, a magical ritual is a little more precise.”
She turned back to the fox demon. “Which means they were probably trying to kill you because of something you know. What would that be?”
“I have no idea,” the fox woman admitted. “Especially since I know nothing of the creature that attacked me.” She winced and clutched her wounded side. “The only reason I escaped was because I had a route already planned.”
Helena sighed. “Well I suppose I should heal that cut of yours. But only if you agree to help us with our questions.”
Sui An managed a sneer. “I’d threaten to bleed over something important, but it seems you don’t own anything of worth. I suppose I must agree.” The wound must be very shallow if she was still willing to bait Helena. But the lack of the woman’s usual grace suggested she was in pain.
“We just keep the good stuff in the house that’s not supposed to get attacked,” Camila replied gamely. The fox demon sniffed in annoyance, conceding the point for now.
Helena stepped up and checked the bleeding cut. It was ragged. The fox demon must have dodged away. Still it was clean, and if it weren’t for the blessings she imagined Sui An would have healed it already. Four tailed foxes might be weak compared to her, but they were decently powerful magical creatures.
Helena carefully reached out with her mind and touched the blessing. She couldn’t just corrupt the area like she had before. The kumiho was a monster through and through, but Sui An was part of the natural world, not a western demon. She had to draw out the blessing slowly, picking at it like a splinter.
Perhaps that was a good way to think of it. A splinter. A fragment of magic that didn’t belong. She used a quick spell of her own to reveal its form to her. Then Helena carefully grabbed it and pulled it out of the wound.
Sui An growled as the blessing came free, but she relaxed slightly as the skin started to knit together. Helena mentally tossed the holy power into the ether, and watched it disintegrate away. “And that’s done.”
The kumiho gave a grudging bow. “It seems I am indebted to you again.”
“So, now we gotta figure out why someone wanted to murder her,” Camila said. “So we can maybe find the people behind this mess.”
Helena considered the question. “Maybe she knew the actual lust victim? Any of your targets end up dead before you could finish the job?”
“How insulting,” Sui An pouted. “You know I never kill except in self defense.” The fox demon did her best to look seductive, but the bloodstains ruined the effort. Still she was obviously regaining her composure. “It’s not my fault so many men attack me.”
Camila moved to Helena’s side. “So why are you friends with a serial killer again? Or acquaintances or whatever?” the jiang-shi woman whispered
“Because she never uses magic to get people to attack her,” Helena replied quietly. “Trust me if she’d committed a crime the Inspector would have put her away long ago. She only uses her mind magic to manipulate people into helping her.”
“I have no idea what you’re conspiring about, but I can assure you no one I know has turned up dead from this thing.” Sui An frowned. “At least I don’t know of anyone.”
“See any huge silver shipments?” Camila asked. “Especially ones where people were being all secretive?”
Helena looked over at her friend. “I’m pretty sure they don’t just mark boxes of silver.”
“Heavy, remember,” Camila said. “They needed some kinda machinery. Or magic.”
Sui An frowned, thinking. “I think I do remember such a thing. I was waiting for my ex boyfriend. The one in the Triads.”
“The one you fed to a mermaid?” Helena asked dryly.
“I just introduced them. The fact that he died and left his liver behind was a horrible tragedy,” Sui An replied with a cruel smile. “In any case I watched a deal involving a silver shipment while waiting for him. The buyers insisted on looking at the metal. I considered asking them if they might spare a bit for a young lady, but they seemed dangerous. Not too strong, but strong enough to hurt a poor maiden like myself.”
Helena frowned. “Active defense spells? That doesn’t sound like the clergy then. Perhaps you’re right Camila.”
“Be nice for once,” Camila replied. “So when was this?”
“About a moon before Helena brought that boring inspector to bother me,” Sui An said. “They packed it all into a truck before leaving towards the gates.”
Helena nodded. They had to have been smuggled in from the underground ocean, and there was no way to the surface except via the portal gates at the docks.
“You get the plate numbers?” Camila asked.
Helena and Sui An both blinked. “Plate numbers?” Helena asked.
Camila looked between the two of them and sighed. “The license plate? The one they have so you know who owns a car?”
“Oh, so that’s what they’re for,” Helena mused. It seemed like a strange system, but it would be useful knowledge.
“Not something I cared enough to remember,” Sui An replied with a bored shrug.
“Of course,” Camila sighed. “So we have a lead. What do we do with it?”
Helena moved to one of the linked maps and began scribbling the information down. “We give the information to the Gold Rat Wizard and he does the grunt work. He’s the one with eyes in every port. Besides, we both can use some sleep.”
Camila lowered her voice again. “Is it safe to sleep with her here?”
Helena nodded. Sui An had sworn an oath, several in fact. And honestly she didn’t think the woman could kill Camila even if she tried. Out loud she said, “The fake angel isn’t exactly subtle. We’ll notice if it arrives.”
The jiang-shi woman seemed to accept what was both said and unsaid. She turned to the fox woman. “Guess you can take my bed. Though you might wanna wash up first.”
“How hospitable, but that won’t be necessary.” Sui An stretched her arms and then she shifted. The transformation was over in a second, leaving a silver fox with four tails. She hopped onto a cushion and began grooming herself.” The fox demon seemed equally secure with Helena’s oaths. That and her ability to run if something went wrong.
Helena put Sui An out of her mind. She turned to Camila. “Let me help you change.” They had a long day tomorrow.