Shifting Truth

by Francheska Fifield

  I drink, I tare and shred their neck, blood squirts out all over me. I let up when the moving stops. I push their arm getting their claws out of my back, rip myself off of the claws in my front, and bite into one of their legs. Drained from my bite I rip into their other thigh. I drain him from there and then rip the clothes over their torso, rip open their stomach, and start chewing on their organs. I am getting every sip of blood, every little drop, even the stuff pumping through the heart. The heart is juicy, blood squirts everywhere, but I manage to snap my face around catching it in midair before it comes down and lands on me. I lick everything I can off myself and the body because my healing power is working but I am still bleeding.

  I am still reveling in the chaos and I want more. I grab Jason's knife, shove it in my back pocket, and push down until it rips through the pocket. The hilt gets caught in the top of the pocket. There that works well enough it will hold it until I can get back to Jason. That is as good as I need so onward I go.

  At the bottom of the stairs, I realize I left a little bit of a trail of blood. The monster in me wants to go back and drink it, to taste myself, the rational part of me (there is still enough) convinces me not to. I’m not going to turn into an animal. No, instead I turn into a demon…that's what the bloodlust is doing; it is turning me into a demon. And I can't fight it, not all the way. So I move along, get away from temptation, there is nothing else I can do.

  Pushing forward through the pain, through the blood, through the chaos in my mind. I come to a torched area, look down, and see it is a sigil or should I say lots of sigils. Each one partially alight, but not fully. I step onto one, blood drips it glows, glows and brakes so I do the only thing I can. I step on every single one of them until all of them are lit up and broken and the whole room is engulfed in a bright light. So bright I can't see but I hear a voice…

  "You have summoned us and for that, you will pay your life. It has been so long. Souls of the supernatural always taste better than human souls. Always more powerful…if we must share I want it to be a bright soul. You will live only long enough to regret waking us."

  I roll my eyes. Normally that is not the response to waking something locked away, but I don’t care at the moment.

  "Well, honestly I need someone wise to ask a question of so this could help."

  A specter appears bright and smoky, regal and elegant. I can’t tell gender, but I can tell it is Fae….not the Fae I know now, nothing like the ones we call ancient, no these are older. Darker.

  "Beth must you get in trouble every time I leave you alone for even a moment."

  "You should leave Jason. I don't think it's safe here. A Fae specter like the one we hunt is here."

  "That’s not a specter or Fae it’s a demon."

  The, whatever it is, does not seem insulted that we are talking about it as if it can not understand. Instead, it watches with intelligent and thoughtful eyes. I have a feeling it knows more about us than even we do.

  "We disturbed Solomon's temple. He was the only mortal to ever control a demon. He left them here to protect his secrets."

  "Odd a wise little creature."

  "Are you freaking serious Jason? A demon?"

  "Yes. Which did you awaken?"

  I shrugged looking around at all the blood and all the glowing glyphs.

  "All of them?"

  He sighs and cocks half a smile at me.

  "That explains the fact that its features keep changing and the gender is unidentifiable."

  "So it’s a doctor Jekyll mister Hyde type of thing?"

  A cuff in the back of the head later and I have to wonder why he is beating on me. Isn’t the demon supposed to try to kill me not my own brother?

  "This one smells of demon already. One here knows you and has claimed you."

  I am about to protest until I noticed IT is pointing at Jason, not me. What. The. Hell.

  For some reason, despite it coming from the mouth of a demon, I believe it enough to look to my brother. My angry looking brother who won’t look me in the eye. My brother that tempts fate traveling the world with an immune system that could crash at any time. My brother so gifted with languages and foreign customs.

  "When Jason?"

  He shrugs.

  "It wasn’t this place. It was elsewhere in the country. A place with only the one worshipping stone. Where you could summon just one demon. I was using a translator at the time. The demon in control of tongues, languages. He appeared so harmless. An old man. I summoned him accidentally, made a deal, had his sigil inked on my skin in copper. Now I say what I think and it comes out whatever language it needs to be. My immune system is stable and will be for my entire life."

  "And what happens after you die?"

  He shrugs like it does not matter. It does matter. All I know about demons infers that you give up your soul in exchange for working with them.

  "Yo demon thing, what will happen to him after he dies?"

  "That will be up to Agreas."

  I sit and put my head in my hands. Here I had been worried about him catching some foreign virus and instead I should have been worried about his soul.

  "Jason. How could you always harass me about the things I do to put myself in danger when all this time you have been contracted to a demon?"

  The demon combo laughs. The air crackles and I feel it. The beast. I can’t fight a specter so Jason will get the brunt. The demons I have summoned, called to the one inside of me.

  "Beth we can argue later. I need you to summon and bind two particular demons. They will control the Fae spirit."

  "Repeat exactly what you hear me say!"

  The wind howls and I don’t bother wondering how the wind is underground. Magical things fuck with the laws of nature. Never trust anything that can change the laws of nature.

  "Fine, but this conversation is not over!"

  He nods and shouts in my ear.

  "Hear me, and make all Spirits subject unto Me: so that every Spirit of the Firmament and of the Ether; upon the Earth and under the Earth: on dry Land and in the Water: of Whirling Air, and of rushing Fire: and every Spell and Scourge of God may be obedient unto Me. I invoke Thee, the Terrible and Invisible God: Who dwellest in the Void Place of the Spirit.

  I invoke thee. Come Thou forth, and follow Me: and make all Spirits subject unto Me so that every Spirit of the Firmament, and of the Ether: upon the Earth and under the Earth: on dry Land, or in the Water: of whirling Air or of rushing Fire: and every Spell and Scourge of God, may be obedient unto Me!"

  When I say the last word the wind dies down, the howling stops and the demon spirits separate and watch me waiting for my commands.

  "Which ones do I need Jason?"

  "Samigina and Murmur."

  "And what do they do?"

  "They have power over exorcisms, ghosts, spirits, communication with them and making them pass on."

  I nod and look to the soulless eyes in front of me. So unnerving.

  "All of you go back to sleep until the next time you are disturbed. Murmur and Samigina come with me…try not to be too visible though. I don't want to scare the people in town when we take off….can they even ride on a plane?"

  "They will inhabit your body until you dismiss them."

  That’s not creepy or anything. "Fine let's do this."

  The others close their eyes and fade away one by one until only two are left. One is not human, but a small horse, when he see me staring he changes to a human form and back again. Well, that is odd. So he can be human. Is that his way of letting me know he can communicate with me or be human if need be? The other is far more intimidating. A warrior decked out with a crown…oh yeah, he also is riding a freaking Griffin! While completely awesome it is also far more frightening. More in your face. My guess is he is a bigger deal than the other.

  They rush me and I feel a chill. I drop to the ground feeling my lungs over inflate. My stomach fills with rocks. My body feels like imploding.

  "Breathe slow and
deep. It gets easier to process."

  I want to tell him to shut up. The rumbling in his voice echoes in my head and I can’t take it.

  'We can settle in here nicely.'

  'Yes, you already have a beast we can talk to.'

  'A demon not so far from us…'

  'But also a shifter half like the one Agreas is attached to.'

  'Yes the blood is similar..a…relation humans call it.'

  How did Jason get used to this constant chatter? Well, he only has one and not vampire drug addicted half trying to take over so likely his demon is less annoying.

  "SHUT UP I CANNOT THINK WITH ALL THIS TALKING!!!"

  Jason takes a step back as my fangs extend and the insanity takes over.

  'She has no control over the demon that resides within her.'

  'None whatsoever.'

  'Should we help?'

  'I would say no but if we ever wish to slumber with our brothers and sisters we need this host sane enough to finish her mission.'

  I fall onto my hands and knees and feel my beast pool back in me until I don’t even feel its presence anymore. That hasn't happened since before I was addicted.

  "Are you two helping me?"

  I can feel the affirmation inside. I breathe a sigh of relief and sink to the floor panting. Relief. I haven't felt this normal since before my kidnapping. I hadn't realized how tired I am. I sink into a deep sleep before I can stop myself.

  Beth snores for a few minutes before her eyes open and she stands. I can tell it is not her, and not just because the eyes are swirling with ancient power. She stands up straight, hands clasped behind her back looking like a duke from Victorian England. I have never seen anyone so short look so tall before.

  "She will not wake for some time. I believe fighting her cravings and other half has exhausted her to the point she cannot control herself anymore. I shall take control of the body until she can once again handle it."

  I’m not sure which demon this is and normally I would protest, but I know Beth has had a terrible year and I can tell she was losing weight and not sleeping. Brian told me many times she was coming back from her hunts on the verge of losing a body part more and more often. We knew something was wrong, but I had no idea it was so bad.

  "All right. We need to get back to Brisa. She is terrified being down here alone."

  "Very well lead the way."

  It am uncomfortable leading a hoarse sounding demonic being wearing my sisters bloody torn up body like a suit back to camp. I do not believe he will attack, Agreas assures me as he and I have a pact the others will not consider killing me, but I am a bit worried about Brisa. That poor little jumpy girl. This will damage her forever. I hope the Fae have therapists.

  "We should patch Beth up when we return to the camp. She cannot keep bleeding everywhere like this or she will never recover."

  "We can fix this body if it's needed for the host's survival."

  "It is. She will not want you to though…she will hate owing you more than she already does."

  "If we are to stay in the host she needs to be alive, this is for our survival as well. We are bound to her. It is of mutual benefit."

  I nod and as we walk sparks shimmer and pop around him…her…well this is especially awkward.

  "What should I call you?"

  "Beth is the bodies name so you may use that."

  I stop looking into those dark ancient eyes. I am unsure how to respond to that without being insulting.

  "It will be a bit odd for me to call my sister's name when I know she is not who I am communicating with."

  "Hmm."

  He says nothing more just walks past me likely following the smell of life to find our camp and Brisa. Well, that clears up so much. Ahh, demons and their idea of convenience. Well, I knew how this would end going into it. Good thing I neglected to tell Beth or she would have had me exorcised and refused this mission. It is a necessary evil.

  Chapter Seven

  I walk back to the camp with Beth's body following behind. I feel like I am being stalked by a zombie. A super intelligent, super powerful, completely silent when walking, zombie. Beth was always an elegant and brutal fighter and when working she can stalk her prey silently, but this, this is different. It is like she’ not even there. Except I can feel a presence pouring out of her. It is a little unnerving, a little terrifying, okay it is a lot terrifying. I’m not sure if I will get my sister back, the deal I made it was very different from the one she made and that could mean the difference between life and death.

  We arrive back and Brisa jumps up screaming and crying. She looks relieved and horrified at the same time. Likely it she is horrified that she'd been left alone and is relieved that we are back.

  "Jason I can't believe you left me! How could you do that?! Why would you do something like that?! I was so scared! There is almost no air down here and I just…I couldn't…my Goddess!"

  "Calm down Brisa. We are back now. You're fine. Nothing happened. Besides Beth needed me. She's bleeding everywhere there were a lot of fights and a lot of things happened. It was a necessary evil to leave you here. You could have come, but that thought scared you even more."

  Brisa looks over at Beth and smiles at her. She hold out a hand needing the reassurance as much as wanting to give it. She's grown fond of Beth since Beth respects her and treats her kindly. Brisa doesn't have much in her life, so she likes Beth, even if her freak out back in the Fae lands scared her a little. But Beth isn't Beth right now so she just stares at her intensely, terrifyingly, overwhelmingly. Brisa shrinks back and cringes.

  "Jason, what's wrong with her? Why is she…what's wrong with her eyes? Her aura is wrong. What's going on?"

  "Hard to explain Brisa. Just know that Beth won't be able to change into a shifter for a while and her fighting style is likely to be a little different if it comes to it. But we will see you back safely. I promise nothing will happen to you."

  Brisa doesn't look like she believes me and with Beth the way she is I can’t blame her. Brisa's upbringing taught her that power means cruelty and these demons are far more powerful than any Fae she has ever run into.

  "We should start home we need to get out of here." Brisa glares at me and sighs.

  "I don't know what you did Jason, but it's a bad thing. That's what I was trying to tell you. There was a cave in, our path out has been blocked. What air is in here will be gone soon and now you tell me the person that dug a hole to get us down here can't change. That means it's all up to you."

  I sigh. Beth has always been more talented than me at changing and using the changes to her advantage. Now our survival depends entirely upon me. I am not a fan of that thought process.

  "Well, that's just great. And I thought demons and golems and everything else we've encountered was bad enough. But no, of course, there has to be a cave in. Mother Nature couldn't possibly be on our side for once. Let's get back to the cavern where we came in. I will figure out a way to go from bird to digging animal without falling out of the sky."

  We pack up our bags, Beth shrugs me off when I try to offer to patch her up, so I just let it go for now. The demons are keeping her safe and alive, whole. That is all we can ask for. For now, we have bigger problems.

  We shoulder our bags and start the trek back to the cavern we entered from. It will be a long, long walk. We are looking at a couple hours and limited oxygen, which doesn't sound great. Ah, life, it always has to kick you in the ass.

  We trudge along for hours exhausted, cold, and lacking oxygen. This really is not a pleasant experience, so I do the only thing I can do. Shut my mouth. I don't ask how Beth and her demonic possession is going, I don't try to comfort Brisa, her glare tells me to not even attempt it.

  Finally, after what seems like forever, we make it there. It is discouraging to see. I have never been deeply religious; I believe it is more about faith then religion. If people have a belief in a God it exists for them. If they don't it doesn't. I understand the importance a b
elief in a deity plays; I’ve just never had much faith of my own. Now, now, I get it. Everybody wants faith. Why? Because faith can keep you alive when nothing else will. So I pray for the first time in forever. I pray silently in my head, no one else hears it. But I do it. I will never admit it later, but there it is.

  I understood what Brisa meant when we arrive in the cavern. Still, I wonder how she made it from the camp, here, and back again before I returned with a demonically possessed Beth. It’s not really the time to worry about it though. It probably has something to do with her power of air and her desperation. I myself know desperation does amazing things for people.

  What we have to worry about right now is the fact that we have no way out. It is easy to dig down and then drop through a hole or fly down to the floor. It is another thing to go back up alone. If the hole were still there Beth and I had a plan set in place. We would fly Brisa up to the entrance of the hole and she would climb out, Beth would toss me through, and then Beth would start up the whole as a small bird or something. It would've been easy. Even now it would be easy if Beth could change then she could toss me up there as a burrowing animal or I could fly her up there as a burrowing animal and toss her. Now we don't have that option. That sucks.

  I don't actually know how to go about get us out of here without Beth's ability to change quickly and the ability for one of us to fly. The digging a new hole to escape is completely out.

  The demonic Beth looks up. He/she, it, whatever, has been staring almost straight ahead and slightly down not really paying any attention to what we are doing around her, not really caring what is going on. Now, now they care.

  "You are saying we need to leave this cavern? We need to reach the surface. Am I my correct?"

  "Yeah, that pretty much sums up our predicament. A cave-in filled in our escape hole and now we have no way to get out. Oh, and we are running out of air."

  "I can fix that. In the process, I will destroy the cavern holding the temple. We will survive."

  I like the sound of survival, but before Brisa and I can protest about the destruction of the place we are standing while we are still standing here (both of us open our mouths to do so) demonic Beth raisea her hand and a blast echoes from it.