“Gryfon,” the woman said with a strange, hungry voice.
Piotr made a questioning noise, turned to look at her. The woman spoke again, pointing skyward. Danyk spoke, eyebrows rising to his hairline. The woman nodded and whispered a mouthful of guttural nonsense.
“She snake?” Piotr glared at Yukiko.
“A snake?” she scowled.
“She snake for the pleasing!”
“What the hells are you talking about?”
“Coming here.” Piotr pointed at the ground, growing angrier by the second. “Taking words away for the Shima, da? Snake.” He clicked his fingers. “Spy! She spy!”
“I’m not a godsdamned spy.” Yukiko rose up off the pillow, growling, the memory of his slap burning on her cheek. “I didn’t want to come here, you mad round-eye bastard. I flew here on an idiot with his penis where his brain used to be.”
Piotr looked utterly befuddled.
“Penis!” Yukiko pointed at the man’s crotch. “Your other head! The one you think with for most of your godsdamned lives!”
Piotr covered his groin with both hands, shuffled his stool a few feet away. Katya laughed, clapping her hands as if delighted, and Yukiko saw the woman had filed her teeth into sharp, gleaming points. Even the boy managed a grin, despite the handprint on his cheek. Piotr started yammering, shaking his head. The room devolved into general chaos until Danyk’s roar rose above the clamor.
Piotr turned back to her, brow creased in concentration as he searched for the words.
“Beast,” he finally managed. “Gryfon.”
He made a flapping motion, pointed to the sky.
“Arashitora,” Yukiko said.
Piotr nodded. “Where is? Where?”
Yukiko frowned. “I don’t know where he is.”
“Die?” Piotr closed his eyes, crossed his hands over his chest. “Is die?”
“I…” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. “I don’t know.”
“Call?” Piotr put his fingers to his lips, gave a shrill whistle. “Calling him?”
“Izanagi’s balls, he’s not a dog.” She eyed the gaijin one by one, anger swelling her chest. “And believe me, the last thing you want is him coming here. He’d tear this little tin can of yours to pieces. He’d show you the color of your insides.”
Piotr shook his head and spoke with an apologetic tone to Danyk. The woman shrugged, addressing the men as if they were children, and with a sigh, the big man nodded. He held up the cylindrical object in his hand, unwrapped the oilskin, and Yukiko caught her breath as she saw her katana gleaming in the half-light.
“Yofun,” she whispered.
She’d thought it’d been lost in the ocean.
“That’s mine, bastard,” she hissed.
Piotr offered what she assumed was an abridged translation. Danyk drew the katana, soft music of folded steel ringing against the backdrop of the storm. He tilted the blade, watched the light rippling across the polished face. With a grunt of admiration, he looked down at Yukiko.
“Spy,” he said.
“No.” Yukiko grit her teeth. “I am not a spy.”
Danyk lowered the blade by inches, until it was level with Yukiko’s throat. She swallowed her rising fear, forced away the pain at the base of her skull, the pounding of the world just outside her head. She met the gaijin’s stare. Unblinking. Unafraid.
Danyk spoke to Piotr, a sharp mouthful tinged with command.
“What soul you pledge to?” Piotr said.
“Soul?” Yukiko shook her throbbing head, eyes still on Danyk. “What the hells are you talking about?”
“Name.” The man slapped his right shoulder. “Name!”
“I told you, my name is Yukiko!”
Danyk growled deep in his chest, muttered a word. Piotr reached out and took hold of Yukiko’s collar, still damp with seawater.
“Sorry,” he said, meeting her eyes. “Sorry you.”
“Wha—”
The gaijin jerked her uwagi back and down, exposing her shoulders and breasts. Yukiko’s words became a shriek of outrage, bucking on the bed, blood flooding her cheeks as she swore and spit and thrashed in impotent fury, that beautiful, wonderful rage returning with a vengeance. Veins standing out like cable in her neck, restraints cutting into her flesh as she cursed them for cowards, screaming, snarling, vowing if they came near her, she’d kick in their heads, gouge out their eyes, tear their throats apart with her teeth.