Dim Sum Asylum(20)

“Did you bring that wūgòu into my house?” His chin lifted, challenging me to deny it.

“It escaped the one who made it. We’re sent to contain it.” I kept Leonard back with my elbow, angling my body to prevent him from approaching the old fae. “Did you not hear us earlier?”

“I didn’t care about your police business. Not until that filth ran over my food like a sewer rat. Now I have to throw away a whole chicken because of its touch. Who is going to pay me for that, wáwá? Who is going to pay for my chicken?” The knife remained at his side, but that wasn’t any consolation.

“The department will pay for your loss, but right now, we have to contain the statue. Did you see where it went?” I spoke as respectfully as I could, but his eyes were wild, spinning red along their edges. “It is cursed. We need to—”

“I know what it is.” The scarlet spread, lighting up most of his compound eyes. I recognized longing in his expression, a simmering desire edging through the green of his lenses. “Flesh was never my weakness, wáwá, not in that way. But you know that, yes?”

I understood what he was saying. Sex drove most humans and fae. Death drove this one, and the urge to murder probably was overwhelming him. I couldn’t tell when he’d killed last—it could have been decades ago or just a day—but if we didn’t slip away soon, he’d kill again and wear two new stars on his wings.

Sometimes the human stories were right. Some of the faerie needed to bathe in blood in order to feel alive, and the old man certainly looked like he was one of them.

“Which way did it go?” I asked, my hand drifting to my side. I’d be lucky to get a shot off before he fell on us, but it would slow him down enough to give Leonard time to escape. “And are you going to let us pass?”

“I want no trouble with the police. I haven’t lived this long only to bring that wolf to my door.” He jerked his head to the exit at the end of the hall. “That leads up. To the gōngyù. You’ll probably find it up there.”

“Thank you,” I muttered, giving him as wide a berth as I could, considering the space. He pressed himself back into the false panel he’d come through, and as I passed, the death tickles began again. His victim that night might have been a chicken, but recently—very recently—something with a greater intelligence suffered a long, agonizing death at the old fae’s hands. “Leonard, go up first. I’ll follow.”

“You don’t trust me with your pet human?” His words slithered out, a spit of Mandarin I was certain Leonard didn’t understand. My partner gave me a curious look, but I motioned him on, urging him toward the stairwell tucked behind the door.

It was a challenge, old and steeped in tradition, the threatening of another faerie’s kith or kin. But this wasn’t the time or the place to revisit ancient ceremonies and start new grudges. We’d come a long way from the hills and forests, and while I respected where my bloodline came from, I wasn’t about to start a war with an assassin simply because his dinner was interrupted.

“No, old man, I don’t, so I’ll let you get back to your cooking,” I responded softly, leaving off the respectful honorific most Mandarin speakers would afford an elder. Keeping my back to the wall, I followed Leonard down the span. “Thanks for your time. We’ll be on our way now.”

For an elderly fae, he was quick, slinking across the carpet on his gnarled bare feet. It took him less than a blink of an eye to reach my side, and I had my gun out without even realizing I’d drawn it. His knife clanged against the muzzle of my Glock, his face pressed in against my upraised arm with only an inch separating my flesh from his sharpened teeth. Leonard was back at the doorway, his gun up, but I nodded him off when the old fae took a step back.

“Do yourselves a favor, chóng, and listen to me.” His breath left a wash of decay in my lungs, hot despite the distance between us. “You look for another way down once you find that thing. It would be better for all of us if my knife was only used on chickens today.”

I didn’t like being shoved around, and unless it was someone I respected, I liked being bossed around even less. My fae instincts fought with my common sense. His wings quivered ever so slightly, a humming challenge so visceral, so primal it made my shoulder blades itch. There were times I wasn’t okay with being a hybrid, caught between human and faerie, and this was one of those moments. I was bigger, stronger, and for all of his cunning and wiles, I probably could have taken him down.

If I wasn’t a cop. If I wasn’t wearing a badge. If I hadn’t suckled from a mother who’d bled justice and righteousness. A Hell of a lot of ifs—and the weight of a gold shield meant I couldn’t, wouldn’t challenge the old man where he stood.

But damned if I didn’t want to.

My gun’s muzzle was still pressed to his chest, and I deliberately slid my finger away from the trigger, not breaking eye contact. He was dying, and from the sour chemical smell coming off his skin, it was going to be a hard death packed with drugs to numb his bones to liquid. He was looking for an easy way out… or at least that’s how it felt to me.

I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. I wasn’t going to be his final fight, and he sure as Hell wasn’t going to be mine.

“Tell you what, húdié shuāngdāo, if there’s another way down, I’ll take it just because I don’t want to see your ugly face again,” I growled. “But if there isn’t and you make one move against my partner, I’ll make sure you’re put in a box so small you’re going to have to fart to get fresh air. Because I won’t kill you, old man. I’m going to make sure you live forever.”