Rin couldn't help stealing another glance at Daphne as the two of them headed up the steps to Sheimi's garden gate. She'd been jittery since she'd come home from the gym and he wanted to check up on her, but she also looked really damn pretty. Shiemi had insisted everyone look nice, and the trade-off of Daphne in a dress was enough to make wearing a tie worth it.
Daphne caught Rin looking and laughed. "What?"
He shook his head. "Nothing."
She eyed him intently, but let the subject drop. A nervous breath entered her lungs as she reached the gate, and she released it as she held it open for him. Hopefully the party would do them both good.
They followed a path through the plants marked by little lanterns to the koi pond, which was decked out even beyond Yukio's description. Shiemi had floated several hundred tea light candles on the water, and strung up row after row of twinkle lights like a pergola over the lawn space next to the pond. The table was set with candelabras and flowers and way too many plates and pieces of silverware. She'd draped it and the chairs with floral cloth and ribbons. She had even coaxed a few Greenmen into the garden beds to grow fresh plants in various shapes. Shiemi herself was next to the table, standing on her tip-toes to light the last of the candles.
"Oh!" she cried, her face lighting up when she noticed Rin and Daphne arrive. "You're right on time. Welcome!" Hurrying over, Shiemi flushed and offered a bow.
"This is beautiful, Shiemi," Daphne said. "Thank you."
Shiemi's blush deepened. "Sit down, sit down," she said and ushered them over. "Yukio's just finishing the appetizer. Do you want anything to drink?"
"Tea?" Daphne asked.
"Of course. Rin?"
"Oh, um, tea's great." He'd been admiring the way Daphne looked in the sunset under the twinkle lights.
Nodding, Shiemi took off and passed Yukio as he stepped onto the lawn with a tray of vegetable tempura. She said something to him that intensified his scowl. Rin chuckled. Yukio was always put out in one way or another. He set the tray on the table.
"Having a relaxing evening?" Rin asked.
Yukio glared at him. "The two of you better have come hungry."
"Rin's always hungry," Daphne replied.
"I've been cooking since noon."
"Yukio!"
Shiemi hollered from the house and Yukio's face twisted up like he was going to explode. Chuckling, Daphne got to her feet.
"I'll go."
"No, Daphne…"
She waved him off. "Sit down. Eat some vegetables with your brother. I'll be fine."
Yukio let out a deep sigh. "Thank you," he said and flopped into the chair next to Rin's, but as Daphne walked away, she froze suddenly, her sight catching on something in the bushes. A beat, then she shook her head and kept moving, moving swiftly toward the house. Yukio had picked up a piece of tempura, but he'd paused with it hovering over the bowl of dipping sauce.
"Is she fine?" he asked.
Rin hesitated. Mephisto hadn't given the okay to bring anybody else in on the demon situation, but Mephisto was also absent. Also, this was Yukio—one of the best and most trusted exorcists in the Knights of the True Cross, not to mention Rin's own brother. Now that he thought about it, Rin wondered if maybe that spirit would be able to possess Yukio as well, given that they had the same blood and all. If that was the case, he deserved to know.
"Do you remember that weekend Mephisto had Daphne and I extend our stay in Hiroshima?" he asked.
Yukio dipped his tempura and took a bite. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Rin filled him in, though he wasn't unnecessarily detailed, in case Mephisto found out and decided to get after him for it. He gave Yukio the basics. Yukio sat and listened to the whole thing with a frown on his face.
"Daphne got her temptaint from coltars, didn't she?" he asked.
Rin opened his mouth to respond, but Shiemi and Daphne appeared then, Daphne carrying a tray with a teapot and cups and saucers, Shiemi loaded down with cushions for their seats. They got up and sat down and got up to pour tea and sat down to drink it and got up to go get the next course and sat down and got up basically for the rest of the night. It was kind of hilarious to watch the progression of Yukio's wearied looks each time Shiemi sent him into the house for something. It seemed to lighten even Daphne's spirits. By the end of the evening, her smiles had become genuine.
"Oh! I just remembered!" Shiemi said, sitting up in her seat. "I bought this great wine to go with dessert."
Yukio put his face in his hands. "We finished dessert twenty minutes ago."
"I know, but I don't want it to go to waste." Shiemi was already standing and heading toward the house. "You want wine, don't you, Rin? Daphne?"
Daphne took a deep breath. "Actually—"
No sooner had Daphne cut herself off than one of the garden beds exploded in a shower of dirt. Shiemi shrieked and Daphne dove to cover her. The ground shook as an enormous Greenman pulled itself up to full height, clawing its way out of the exploded bed. Something was off about it—it didn't look like any Greenman Rin had ever seen, made up of veiny, twisting roots. It looked…dead somehow. Rin's heart stopped.
That was her. The spirit was inside that Greenman. He hadn't even felt her coming. A cold and dreadful chill spread throughout his body. Had they only been able to sense her before because she had wanted them to?
The Greenman let out a terrible roar.
"What on earth?" Shiemi gasped, pushing dirt and hair out of her eyes as she and Daphne helped each other to stand. The Greenman had to have been at least fifteen feet tall and it was struggling to free its feet from the ground. Shiemi took a step toward it, but Daphne pulled her back.
"Don't," was all she said.
Her eyes flicked toward Rin and he realized he hadn't brought Kurikara with him. It was supposed to have been a garden party. He was about to curse when, inexplicably, Daphne drew his blade from the blue flame tattoo over her heart. She tossed the sword to him. Stunned, he only just managed to catch it.
"Sometimes it pays to be paranoid," Daphne said.
The other Greenmen that had been in the garden came scurrying and squeaking to Shiemi, Nee among them, as the possessed one pulled and roared. It must have been under the garden for ages to be embedded so deeply and grown so large. Shiemi glanced between Rin and Daphne.
"Should we help it?" she asked.
"It's hostile," Yukio told her. "My guns are inside."
Daphne nodded at him. Rin hadn't even seen her draw Castor and Pollux, but there the swords were in her hands. "We'll cover you."
Yukio took off and Shiemi herded her Greenmen away from the lawn, except for Nee who held his ground and started to grow, doubling his size a few times over. Daphne leveled her blades at the possessed Greenman, flexing her hands around the grips. Christ, she looked…she looked like she was about ready to snap.
"We can't hesitate this time, Rin," she growled.
"What's going on?" Shiemi asked, returning and taking a place beside Nee. "What's wrong with that Greenman?"
"It's possessed," Daphne answered. "Long story."
Shiemi's face went pale. "Possessed?"
With a burst of dirt, the Greeman freed one of its feet and took a heavy step toward the four of them to get new leverage to pull the other out. Yukio returned, shoving a full clip into his handgun.
"What's the battle plan, you two?" he asked as he drew a bead on the Greenman.
"We need to exorcise it as quickly as possible," Daphne replied. "I don't care how."
"You can't hurt it!" Shiemi cried. "If it's possessed, that's not its fault!"
"Shiemi, I don't know if it's possible not to hurt it," Rin said, looking at her regretfully. She opened her mouth to protest again, but the Greenman loosed its second foot and let out a triumphant roar. Yukio shot a couple rounds into its open mouth. It bellowed and started moving toward him.
"We should have attacked while it was restrained," he grumbled.
"Lead it away from the house!" Daphne shouted, already running toward the garden gate. Yukio released a couple more rounds as he followed. Shiemi was so busy worrying about the affected Greenman that Rin had to grab her wrist and drag her along behind him.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" she asked.
Rin shook his head. "No."
The prospect was frightening if the spirit ever got hold of him, but he shoved it down under a determination to exorcise the damn thing before it got the chance. The Greenman followed their trail, taking quick, crashing steps that made the ground rumble with every footfall. After a matter of moments, the group of them arrived at the beginning of the bridge that linked Shiemi's family shop with the tower to reach it.
"We need to get behind it, control both exits," Yukio said.
"Done," Daphne replied, dashing to the side and ducking just shy of the Greenman's enormous arms.
"Nee, can you make some vines, please?" Shiemi asked.
"We don't need to restrain it, we need to exorcise it!" Daphne called from the other side of the Greenman, drawing its attention until Yukio shot it in the head again. With a hiss, the thing bent down and tried to sweep the three of them and Nee off the bridge, but they dodged.
"We should at least try," Shiemi replied and gave a nod to Nee who started sprouting vines from the ends of his arms.
The possessed Greenman advanced, pushing Rin and Yukio and Shiemi further onto the bridge. Daphne's boomerang blade appeared above its head, spinning and missing entirely. Daphne cursed.
"See if you can get close to it, Rin," Yukio said as he took measured backwards steps. "Kurikara might cut those roots."
Nodding, Rin drew his blade. Yukio loaded a second handgun and fired both in rapid succession to give Rin a distraction. He dashed forward and ducked like Daphne had to slide, moving alongside one of its legs and bringing Kurikara up to cut its ankles as he did. The sword slid through the Greenman's body like it was made of butter. The demon let out a cry.
Why do you reject me?
Rin did not reply.
Why do you not answer?
"Rin! Daphne! Go for the legs at the same time!"
Rin glanced at his wife and she nodded, so forward they went under cover of Yukio's fire. The Greenman reeled at the onslaught of bullets, lashing out with its arms. Rin only just managed to duck the one on his side and cut through more of the roots on his way. The Greenman's other arm, however, connected completely with Daphne, hitting her in the gut and throwing her backwards. She rolled a couple of feet, and lay still, but pulled herself up after a second.
"Goddamnit!" she shouted.
"You all right, Daph?"
"Just kill it!" she screamed.
Her arms were trembling and she started to glance all around her, her eyes focusing on something that Rin either could not see or was not there. Shit. Daphne tried to shake it off, focusing all of her attention on the possessed Greenman. Gritting her teeth, she lifted both of her blades and charged.
Shiemi cried, "Wait!" Daphne hesitated, and in that split second, the possessed Greenman wrapped its root fingers around her throat. Nee's vines shot out and entangled the Greenman, stopping it from lifting Daphne much higher than a foot or two. She sliced her blades through its arm and freed herself, gasping as she fell to the ground.
"Enough's enough," Yukio said.
He unleashed a barrage of bullets and the Greenman's heart emerged. The second it was visible, Yukio shot it and the creature let out a death cry, stumbling back and tipping over and turning to dust as it fell.
Why do you reject me?
Rin shivered at the voice in his mind, momentarily sensing the spirit as she abandoned her borrowed body and disappeared.
The dust from the Greenman landed on Daphne who was just…kneeling there, staring at the ground. Slowly her head tipped back. Her mouth opened. She shredded her throat with her voice, making a sound like damnation itself. Rin had never heard anything like that in all his life—it made even the Greenman's cries seem like nothing—and it was coming out of his wife. Shiemi ran for her.
"Daphne! Daphne, oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, I didn't know that would happen, oh my goodness are you all right?"
She reached a hand toward Daphne's shoulder, but Daphne stood and whirled on her like a storm, slapping her away. The force actually sent Shiemi stumbling back a bit—her eyes wide with shock.
"I told you we had to exorcise it!" Daphne screamed, tears rising and pouring down her face.
"I was trying to help," Shiemi replied, surprised and hurt and scared.
Daphne could only howl in response, her entire body trembling, her hands reaching up and making knots in her hair. Tears streaked her face, cutting lines in the dust. Hiccups of sobs interrupted her; she began to pace.
Helpless, Shiemi looked back at Rin and Yukio, but Rin was already on his way.
"Daph, hey. Daph…"
He reached for her as Shiemi had, but Daphne turned on him as well.
"Don't touch me!"
She shoved him away, fighting down sobs in her throat. When Rin looked into her eyes, he saw those familiar demons—the ones she kept locked away in her mind. The source of her nightmares, her anxiety. He'd told her not to give into their influence, but she couldn't exactly control that, and so she'd hidden how bad it had gotten and that had made it worse. In a blink, she fled from them, stumbling over the uneven paving, dropping her blades and pulling Helen of Troy from her neck as well. She let all three clatter to the ground.
A breeze whistled across the top of the bridge, ruffled the grass growing around the steps up to the shop and the garden.
"I'm so sorry, Rin," Shiemi whispered. She clutched her elbow in her opposite hand, hung her head, and focused on her feet.
"I—" Rin didn't know what to say. "It's not your fault. I'm…I'm gonna go find her. Can you two call this in to report?" They might have killed the Greenman, but their spirit had slipped away.
Shiemi nodded. "Of course, Rin."
He left it at that, taking off at a brisk trot in the direction Daphne had gone—toward the back of the house—picking up her blades as he passed them. He found her on the back porch, her face in her hands—collapsed against the railing, sobbing in agony. His heart twisted. She didn't seem to notice when he sat down on the steps beside her, pulled her off the railing, and wrapped her in his arms. She just continued to wail, writhing, gasping for air like she was suffocating under her memories.
"Daphne…Daphne…breathe. Please, breathe."
He didn't know if she heard him. She shook, her whole body filled with tremors that turned her back and forth. Her cries were uncontrollable, though she struggled for control. It was like she was dying inside. Words formed out of her anguish.
"I don't want to be an exorcist anymore," she sobbed. "I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to." Her white-knuckled hands gripped his shirt. "I don't want to see demons anymore, I don't want to, I can't—I can't—" She gasped like a fish out of water. "I can't…I can't…"
Painful tears brimmed in Rin's eyes as he clutched her to him tightly. "I love you, Daphne," he whispered, his voice sticking. "I love you so much."
He could do nothing then but hold her as she sobbed, rocking her back and forth and kissing her head and murmuring words like he would to a child. She held onto him, gripping the cloth of his dress shirt so tightly the blood drained from her hands. It took several minutes for her to calm, and even when she did, her rest was uneasy.
Shivering, she sat up on what strength she had and wiped her nose on her wrist, little sobs still escaping her lips.
"Are you ready to go home?"
She nodded, wiping her eyes.
"Hey." He caught her chin in his hand and made her look at him. "I love you."
"I know," she sniffed. "I love you, too."
He hugged her, and she hugged him, taking in a breath and letting it out as a shaky sigh. She trembled still, but pulled away first. He brushed her tear-soaked and dirty hair out of her face.
"Do you want me to carry your blades?"
She nodded.
"Okay."
He continued arranging her hair, pulling it off her neck where it stuck with sweat, moving it over her shoulder where it would be out of the way. Once he was sure she could sit up on her own, he stood and sheathed Castor, Pollux, and Helen of Troy in his back. They hurt going in and felt like ice, but he shook it off and helped Daphne to her feet.
"I n-need to apologize to Shiemi."
"Not tonight. Let's just get home and go to bed."
Daphne nodded, swallowing, too weak to reply with words. She stared at the ground with blank and glassy eyes.
It didn't seem likely she'd be able to sleep.