Quit Your Waning (Over the Moon #3)

JIHAE

The Halloween Festival finally arrived, filling the night air with eerie dance music, purple lamplight, and laughter. A few volunteers dressed as zombies scared the kids and snuck up on people, filling the party with an exciting tension. Davor waved hello but kept far from me, dressed as Mothman and scaring people that walked through a labyrinth by jumping in and out of the paths from above with his cloth wings stretched wide.

Watching him leap for an unsuspecting couple made my stomach flutter nervously. I smoothed down my costume one more time, intimately aware of the toy between my legs that had grown larger since I’d put it in.

I slapped my cheeks, putting it out of my mind. I wanted to have our night, but I also wanted to enjoy the festival. It would be the best end to the evening. I swayed through the crowds, admiring all the amazing costumes and smiling faces, saying hi to students and fellow teachers, neighbors and strangers. I got rave compliments on my costume as I went, some even asking to take photos.

I’d holed up most of the day, preparing my costume, too much of a ball of nerves to sleep or do anything else. When the desperation of my thoughts became a little too loud, I escaped to the playfield and helped set up, walking through the haunted trail with the smaller children while there was still a bit of dusky light oozing through the canopy. I held their hands, making silly faces and noises so they felt fearful excitement rather than anxiety, all while stealing glances into the trees, looking for familiar yellow eyes.

Sizzle never stopped by to say hello though.

Because what he was really doing was giving me an escape route.

Thinking back on our conversation in the woods, I slipped through the crowds of costumed Renatans dancing in the spooky purple lamplight and poured myself a Witch’s Brew, the cocktail of the evening. Its dry ice fog spilled over my hand, refreshingly chilly in the humid dusk. I took a sip of the glittery purple drink and smacked my lips together. Berry tart and a bit like sangria, if it were crisp and bubbly.

“Hi, Jihae!”

Omi, the hairstylist from Jamaica, and her coil, a shilpakaar named Siatesh, came up to me with smiles on their faces, hands clasped together. My eyes bulged out of my face at their incredible butterfly and wasp costumes. I gestured to them with a huge smile as Siatesh poured them both a brew.

“Wow!” I gasped, admiring her gossamer wings and his antennae. “Your costumes are incredible!”

“So’s yours! A spooky black cat. It’s so extra, I love it.” Omi tapped gently on one ear protruding from atop my head, and I laughed, looking down at myself.

“Actually, I’m a kumiho, a nine-tailed fox? It’s a legend where I come from.” I shook my hips and turned sideways, showing off the several tails bouncing out from the small of my back. I’d only fit five on my belt, not nine, but they were still beautiful, fluffy and full. They swayed and spun over themselves with a core on a fabric tape and foam vertebrae that made them slinky and weighty.

“I would have assumed you were a bilong,” Siatesh said thoughtfully. I blushed, brushing my hands over the colors.

“Thank you.”

I’d spent hours perfecting my bodysuit. It was a bustier with matching tights and a gossamer skirt. I’d illustrated all three pieces to mimic a bilong’s coat, only instead of going with red, I went with purple, pink, and green for the Halloween atmosphere. The illustrated fur was accented with black fur here and there: around my neck and wrists, in a chevron pattern down my back, leading to my tails. Some of the illustration was gold foiled to make the tips of the fur pop off the body and catch the light.

I hoped Sizzle looked at it and felt like my heart was sharing space with him as much as my body. I missed my home on Earth, but he filled up the void it had left behind.

“Oh, you and Sizzle must have coordinated!” Omi realized slowly. Her chocolatey eyes glittered with excitement. I cocked my head with confusion.

“No? I didn’t know he was going to wear a costume.”

Actually, I didn’t know he could wear a costume…

Omi leaned in close, and I clutched both hands around the rim of my drink. I gulped half of it down, determined not to spill on her costume as she nudged my bicep.

“Ah course, it’s not your average costume. Everyone up at di shop spent all day brushing out his undercoat. Conditioning, thinning, drying… There’s so much black fluff on di hill, you’d think it snowed coal.” She opened her eyes wide with an exhale to express the massive effort, then did a little dance with her shoulders. “Ah, but it was worth it. I can’t wait for you to see him!”

“He’s certain you’ll be pleased,” Siatesh added with his usual stoicism, ovoid yellow eyes catching on me from his blue-black face. His tendrils swirled around his shoulders, painted in gold stripes for the wasp look, and mischief upturned one side of his mouth. I watched them, and for once, they didn’t bother me. “If you aren’t, I suggest you act so anyway.”

“Sati,” Omi scolded. His face broke in a reserved smile as he lifted his cocktail.

“I’m only ensuring he doesn’t eat you, priya.”

Omi snorted with amusement and bumped her hip against his. He hid his mouth against his cup as his smile faded and he looked at me again.

“You do know what he’s capable of, yes?”

“Sati,” Omi warned again. She gave him a sideways glance. “They’ve just started, don’t scare her off.”

Siatesh shook his head. “We didn’t court all that long, priya, and advenans and bilongs have much more ruthless instincts. Perhaps it’s too forward a topic for a party, but someone should ask. He would want her to know, even if his instincts urge him to take every advantage.”

“Siatesh is right,” I admitted. “But yes, I like him very much. We’re, ah, nesting. Soon.”

“Are we, now?”

Sizzle’s voice dripped down my spine and goosebumps prickled my skin right on cue. Omi smiled with excitement, biting her lip.

“I’m taking full credit for that masterpiece,” she decided with a definitive nod over my shoulder. She pointed at Sizzle with a warning in her eye. “You better tell people it was me. Damn near made my fingers bleed—Hey!”

“What is the saying? You must learn to read the room,” Siatesh goaded her. He bobbed his head in farewell, entwined his tendrils with his priya’s braids, and coaxed her away. He pointed Omi towards Tinsley, her best friend, and the Canadian party planner descended upon her, stealing her attention in an instant.

I swallowed hard as Sizzle huffed against my spine, wobbling the tails affixed to my waist. I would have turned around, but I could tell he was enjoying himself, pressing his draconic nose against the jack hammering pulse in my throat. He licked me beneath the chin, scratching a claw through my tails, and hummed.

“Happy Hahloin.”

“Happy Halloween,” I said back, breathless, chest tight.

“What are you meant to be… a bilong?” he asked, slipping his tongue down the front of my bustier to taste the mist of sweat between my breasts. A black glow flickered over the shadow of his face in my peripheral vision, and his usual bonfire scent was stronger, mixed with something floral. Shampoo, I realized.

“A kumiho bilong,” I told him. “It’s a creature that pretends to be a beautiful woman, then eats the livers of unfaithful men to regain her humanity.”

Sizzle hissed with laughter. “Is that what you plan to do? Seduce and eat me?”

At that, I smiled, pressing back against his massive shoulder. “You wouldn’t hate it,” I teased.

Sizzle chuffed, blowing my hair forward. “Predation is my favorite game, morsel. Of course I wouldn’t hate it.”

He curled one sharp claw around the cup of my jaw and turned me around to face him. My jaw dropped.

Sizzle had “dressed” as a bulgae, one of the fiery hounds of Korean folklore. Legend says they chase the sun and the moon in an effort to bring light to Gamangnara, the realm of darkness, causing eclipses. They are fierce, unapologetic, determined, and fit Sizzle so perfectly that tears welled in the corners of my eyes.

Omi had shaped and trimmed his fur to compliment the incredible musculature beneath, a mottled bruised red and violet coat so shiny it looked like silk. A perm suspended his hackles in waves of red and black that resembled flames, while intricately shaved patterns cut through the short coat of his arms, legs, and chest. They were the patterns painted onto temples and palaces throughout Korea. And his face… Black flames danced around his expression, emphasizing the thick ruff of fur behind his ears. Sizzle really was a masterpiece, just as Omi had claimed.

“Do I look like I want to steal your light, morsel?” he asked. He stared at me with one sideways eye, stock still. I could clearly tell he was uncertain, even if no one else could.

But if I spoke, my voice would shake with emotion.

Seoul, my home city, was full of modern buildings and international people, but Korean history was visible everywhere. We celebrated our roots with pride, even if we didn’t take time to visit the palaces and museums or read old books outside of school. Our culture was alive and rich and seeped into daily life like a quiet ghost. When I’d been taken though, that daily reminder of who I was and where I was from had been ripped away.

I nodded to answer Sizzle’s question, then gently rocked forward, burying my face in his fur and breathing him in. I rubbed the tears from my eyelashes against his neck before they could fall, running my fingers through his silky coat.

My reaction to his costume hit me like a train. Not because I missed home so much—most of us did, so that wasn’t new—but because he hadn’t felt a sense of belonging like this probably ever. He’d never been surrounded by the history of his species, had never known his parents or gone to school. His path had never crossed with a bilong pup or a sibling. Everywhere he went, he was met with fear and suspicion. Bilongs didn’t even have their own language, music, or architecture. And if they did, there was no record of it.

At least I could stream K-dramas and music from our archives.

Sizzle wrapped his claw around the small of my back. “Perhaps I chose poorly,” he hummed with hesitation. “I considered being a dragon for you, but this seemed… more fitting.”

I shook my head, brushing his fur across my face, then pressed my lips against his cheek. His ear twitched and he chuffed the moment he realized I wasn’t afraid but touched. He squeezed my waist tighter as his tongue lolled out from the split in his lower jaw.

“It’s perfect. Better than a dragon. Better than anything.”

Sizzle pulled his face back so we could look at each other and grinned. “You did scold me like a dog, if you remember.”

I let out a belt of laughter, petting the traditional patterns shaved into his chest. “I did, and you deserved it.”

“Mm, I like when you’re bossy,” he panted, realigning his throat teeth with hunger. I ran my fingers over them as their clicking descended to his sternum, letting his mouth claws intertwine with my fingers like hands. The oils in his fur bloomed with that fiery smell as I petted him, gathering the addictive perfume on my palms. My pussy clenched on his toy, and I looked around the crowd, biting my lower lip.

Everyone was there, and though some were staring, the looks on their faces were surprise, not judgment. The children ran around playing tag, giggling, and dancing to another remix of I Put a Spell on You. Rambir waved as he ran by, wearing a furry cape and ears that looked suspiciously like Sizzle.

When I turned back to my bilong, I reached up on my toes to speak into his ear, gesturing to our costumes. “I adore you, Sizzle. Please stop pushing me away. You feel like home. I want you to be my home.”

My beautiful monster snarled and pressed his forehead to mine, clutching me harder. “Careful, morsel. We can go slow.”

Gently removing his claw from around my back, I took a step away. Sizzle, with black flames dancing around his face, let me go, his claws digging into the earth.

“I don’t want to be careful anymore,” I breathed.

Sizzle’s head cocked to the side, a malicious grin showing off all of his teeth in the purple mood lighting. “Are you telling me to chase down my sun and moons? Because unlike a bulgae, I will catch and keep you. You’ll never leave my realm again, sweet little thing.”

I didn’t answer, backing up until I was past the food tables and the crowd. I felt breathless, an enthralled smile on my face as I nodded. Sizzle prowled after me, head low to the ground, hackles high and agitated. Then I turned in a slow circle until my back was to him, and immediately, his hot breath was behind me. Not a sound, not a whisper. My breath shuddered with excitement and trepidation as he nipped my ear.

“If you’re foolish enough to run…” he rumbled, turning my shoulders towards the shortcut trail back towards the home towers. We hadn’t decorated it, and it wasn’t part of the festival, so the entrance was dark and claustrophobic, overgrown with ferns and creeping vines. “I’ll find you in the dark.”

His heat retreated, and I took one measured step after the other, away from the crowds and decorations, away from the safety of the party. Months ago, I would have been terrified of the dark and the vines and my past, but I knew Sizzle would be there now, making the jungle quiet with fear. He was overbearing and protective, surrounding me on all sides like a security blanket with teeth, and nothing in the world made me feel safer.

My prey mind knew that if he saw me run immediately, he’d tackle me to the ground. So I took it slow, breathing in measured breaths. Left foot, right foot, my knees and hands shaking with fear and excitement.

The jungle swallowed me up, and I ran as fast as my feet could carry me.