Immortal Transition

by K J Carr

  Marcus was in his bed, his eyes wide, rubbing his neck, which had red hand marks around it. Malak and Ridwan were fighting two daemons.

  Ah! The ward probably was Tennin-made and was keeping anyone from knowing what was happening in here.

  As I glanced around, another daemon appeared and started to move towards Marcus from behind him, a syringe in his hand.

  Vern growled, his eyes on that third daemon. “Attack, Vern!” I whispered, tossing him on the hospital bed. Vern ran across Marcus and took an attack position between him and the daemon.

  It caused the daemon to look at me and then back at the dog. While he was distracted, I palmed my knife. There was too much equipment and too many people in the room for me to use a sword, which meant I had to get more up close and personal. Which is what I did.

  Moving around Marcus’s bed, I went for the daemon’s gut with my knife. I was angry and tired of all the attacks, so I thrust the knife in deep. The daemon, who had been focused on Marcus again, looked at me with his eyes wide. I pulled up with a grunt, cutting him from his groin to his sternum.

  “Tell Achilah, when you go back to hell, that he should come after me himself. My family and friends are OFF LIMITS!”

  I watched the light die in the daemon’s eyes, but I still held him up, his blood pouring over my hand.

  “Nica.” Ridwan’s voice was gentle, his hand on my knife hand.

  I growled. I hadn’t seen him approach me, I was so focused on making sure the daemon in my arms was dead.

  “Nica. He is gone.” Ridwan cradled my hand, gently pulling me away from the daemon, who fell to the ground without me to hold him up. Malak stared at me as Ridwan turned me into his chest. He held me, and the hot angry tears came.

  “Take care of the bodies and…” Ridwan’s deep voice rumbled in his chest, but I could only sob out my anger.

  I know they had to wipe this from Marcus’s mind or else it would scar him for life. I know they had to get rid of the bodies and clean the room. But I just didn’t care. I couldn’t care.

  Ridwan started to walk me out of the room, but I stopped him, stepping out from under his arm. Glancing over my shoulder at Marcus, who was now unconscious as a result of the mind wipe, with Vern lying next to him, his head on his owner’s hand watching me, I mumbled, “There’s one more.”

  Ridwan stiffened. “Where?”

  I sighed and wiped my eyes, standing up straight. I stepped into the Void and looked around. Where did I leave that asshat? El appeared in front of me, the frown on her face fierce.

  “Did you lose this?” She dragged the struggling daemon out from behind her.

  “Umm…. yeah.” I replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck.

  “Don’t throw them in here again, Nica. This is not the place for them.” Okay, she was really pissed with me.

  “It was an emergency, El. He was going to kill me, and I had to get to Marcus. I had Vern, his puppy, with me in an elevator. I am sorry it took so long to get back to him, but I swear, I only did it to save my brother.” I was whining. I knew I was, but I needed El to understand.

  She continued to stare at me until she finally relaxed slightly and put her hand out, the daemon dangling from it. She must have been strong because she was dragging him around easily. “Take him. This is not a holding cell for them.”

  She then disappeared.

  I grabbed the daemon as he fell and stepped back into the room.

  Thrusting the daemon, who didn’t struggle much, into Malak’s hands, I snarled, “This one tried to kill Vern and me in an elevator on the way up here.”

  Malak looked at me strangely, but surprisingly, didn’t say a word. He took the man and left, leaving another Tennin to finish cleaning up the room.

  Ridwan walked over and slipped his arm around my shoulders to prevent me from moving into the hallway. Right. I was covered in blood. He had splotches on him as well. Once we stepped through the ward, we would be seen.

  I glanced up at him and sighed. Without even asking, I teleported us to my house.

  Chapter 19

  Reaching the house, I stomped up the stairs. I didn’t really care where Ridwan went at this point.

  T’Koran was on my bed and his eyes opened wide at the sight of me.

  Nica? He asked, his nostrils flaring. I wondered briefly if he could scent the difference between human and daemon blood. No matter. Something to ask him later.

  I put up a hand to halt any more discussion right now and continued into my bathroom, turning on the hot water in my shower. I felt a little bad about how I had treated the little daemon, but I was still pissed with all the attacks. I heard a few murmurs behind the closed bathroom door and figured that Ridwan had at least given TK the ten second view of what happened.

  I stared at myself. My eyes were wide, and there were dark circles under them. I could see faint streaks of blood on my cheeks, but the skin underneath was pale for me, my usually dark tan skin looking yellow and washed out. My hair was frizzy, sticking out every which way. I had lost my hair tie somewhere along the way, as usual, and my hair looked almost like someone had teased it into an afro.

  I looked at my hands. They had dried blood on them, as did my clothes. I suddenly couldn’t stand to wear them anymore and I pulled them off quickly, stuffing the pants and shirt into the trash. After a quick glance in the mirror, my bra and panties followed. None of it was salvageable. I shuddered and then stepped into the shower, making sure the water was as hot as I could stand. I let it run over my head, looking down and watching the red swirl down the drain.

  And the tears came.

  I was angry and tired of the crap that I had to go through. I didn’t know if other Transitioners had to go through all of this, but I just wasn’t sure I could take any more. Once I had decided, I had been so sure this was the right way to go, but I didn’t think my family and friends would be attacked so viciously. I wanted this to end, now. I wanted to find Achilah and show him that he had picked the wrong person to do this crap to. And while I thought all this, I cried, watching the water slowly change to pink and then clear.

  I just wanted to sit down on the floor of my shower and not come out, but that wasn’t me. I quickly washed my hair and body, before turning off the water. I wrapped a large fluffy towel around me and stepped out into my bedroom.

  TK was sitting on my bed, his legs swinging slightly, his head down, looking at his hands which were clasped on his knees. He looked up when I came out and then back down.

  Nica. His voice was soft.

  “I can’t talk about it, TK.” I tiredly walked to my drawers and pulled out clean underwear, a large T-shirt and my most comfy yoga pants. “I am just too drained.”

  TK looked up then and studied me. Hike, Nica? Go to your nature place?

  I started to say no, that all I wanted to do was sleep, but then the thought of the trees and the sky and the quiet came over me. Yes, I needed to recharge. I didn’t think I could sleep yet, since the scene at Kaitie’s and then in Marcus’s room would probably just replay over and over in my head, preventing real rest. But out there, I could try to forget.

  “Yes. That would be perfect, TK.” I looked at him and attempted to smile. I suspect it looked more like a grimace, but he took it for the intent. He jumped down and ran to me, hugging my legs.

  Put shoes on. I will get drinks for us to take. We will hike until you can sleep. TK then scampered away.

  I looked after him for a minute. How did he get drinks? I shook my head and put on my sneakers, picking up a light backpack and made my way downstairs.

  Ridwan wasn’t in the house. It was quiet. I suspected he had returned to the hospital to make sure things were cleaned up and okay. And to give me some space. Of course, I think he also figured I would just go to sleep, and here I was, going out. Still, I had TK with me, and the little daemon was resourceful in his own right.

  He came out of the kitchen with two cans of seltzer in his hands, lifting them up to me.
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  “Thanks, buddy.” I put the two cans into my backpack and then slipped a couple of chocolate bars that apparently never made it into the kitchen and were sitting on the living room coffee table still, in alongside them. “Ready?”

  TK nodded and headed for the front door. I was so ready to get outside.

  ∞∞∞

  No matter where I hike, I generally ended up in my special spot at least once a month most of the year, excluding winter. This afternoon was warm, an unusual Indian Summer day. The wind was a little chilly, but here where we sat was somewhat enclosed and the wind didn’t quite blow as hard.

  TK and I sat with our legs swinging out over the ledge, a chocolate bar in hand. We didn’t talk, but we both were absorbing the sun and the quiet. TK had lived most of his daemon life in tunnels, in the dark. He never said what his life had been before he had become a lesser daemon, and I wasn’t even sure if he could remember that time. Heck, I wasn’t even sure if this had been a function of him dying and then being reincarnated as a daemon or not.

  I thought about asking him, but I was enjoying the quiet too much.

  I had needed this.

  Suddenly, he stood up and turned.

  Nica. His hand tapped my shoulder. I could hear the warning in his mental voice. Fucking A!

  I looked over my shoulder and then scrambled to my feet. There was a small group of daemons standing near the entrance brambles, cutting off our escape. I ignored them, because standing a little in front of them was that asshole Achilah. Geez! Couldn’t a girl get a break?

  I studied him. The last time I had seen him in his own body, it had been dark out. He was tall and lean, an arrogant smirk on his narrow but cold face. His eyes were silver, rimmed with black and his nose was thin and a bit pointed. He had his wings relaxed at his side, black as Malak’s, but not as glossy. Almost a matte black, as if someone had rubbed them hard and roughed them up. Surprisingly, there were bits of orange and white feathers interspersed, almost as if he was a calico but had forgotten that he wasn’t supposed to have so much black in his coloring.

  And then the wings were gone. I wondered why he had shown them to me.

  “Nica. So nice to meet you again.” His voice was rough, grating even, as if there had been some sort of damage to it at some point in his life. I could feel his slimy personality reach out to try to touch me mentally, but I blocked him instinctively, shuddering. “And a lesser daemon? A… Chlarm?” He frowned as if he was trying to remember something. “Which one are you and why are you here on earth with this Transitioner?” His attention focused on TK, his brow furrowed as if he was trying to figure him out.

  TK stepped behind me slightly, which reminded me how close we were to the edge. I shuffled a little to my left to get at least a few feet between me and total disaster. My movement drew Achilah’s attention back to me. He smiled, turning with me, allowing me to have some appearance of safety.

  “Achilah.” I realized that we were at this point, the point we would see who would survive. I had wanted him to come after me, had told his minions to tell him to come after me and here he was.

  He nodded, as if reading my thoughts. “Yes, they told me you invited me to…how do you say it? Rumble. To fight my own battles.”

  Shit. I should have been careful about what I wished for. Lesson learned, unfortunately a bit too late.

  He continued. “You have been fascinating to study, Nica. I know that Tennin have powers, but generally only after they have transitioned. You, on the other hand, are just full of them. God forbid what will happen once you transition…except we can’t let that happen, can we?”

  Fuck. I reached out to call to one of the guys, but I felt like my call bounced back on me.

  Achilah’s smile grew wider. “I have put a ward in place, so you cannot call out to them. Nor can you go to them via teleporting.”

  Damn it! I was on my own. Except…El! I reached out to El in the Void and felt that call go out. Achilah cocked his head.

  “What did you just do?” I felt like a bug under a microscope. “You just called out into the Void. Why would you have done that? How can that help you now?” A look of confusion crossed his face briefly.

  Well, he obviously didn’t know about El! TK touched my leg lightly.

  I have contacted Enoch, Nica.

  TK’s voice was faint, but I could still hear it, so the bond between us still worked. I wasn’t sure how he could contact Enoch mentally, though. Particularly with the ward in place. Besides, all the two of them could say to each other was basically “Help!” and “Feed me!”

  Still, I wouldn’t look cross-eyed at anything that may be to our advantage. It appeared that Achilah wasn’t aware that the lesser daemons could bond with a human and talk to them telepathically. Nor that the Tennin were learning the daemon language, albeit slowly. Hopefully, the Tennin were coming. I just had to hold on until they appeared.

  “No matter. Grab her.” Achilah said lazily, waving at the daemons behind him.

  I called my sword and it appeared, along with my knife. Two more things that now worked consistently for me.

  Achilah’s eyes widened in surprise. Ha! Point to me. The daemons that had moved to grab me tried to step back but were pushed forward towards my sword blade, which I had immediately swung to take heads. I had to even the numbers a little more.

  TK slipped into the brambles near us, and then into a crevice to hide. He couldn’t fight these daemons. He couldn’t do much more than what he had done. I knew he was upset he couldn’t do more, but I didn’t have time to tell him that what he had done was more than enough. I had to concentrate on the daemons in front of me.

  I was tired. I had already fought twice today. I had basically used up all my extra energy. And yet, here I was, again. I tried to step away from the cliff, but it felt like they were trying to box me in. I hoped that the Tennins would appear soon to help me, but I couldn’t be sure.

  Deep down, I knew this may just be the end of things. Achilah had pushed me too far today. I was new to my powers, I was new to fighting, and I was exhausted. I was about to just drop my sword, when I felt El touch my mind. She infused me with a little more energy and tripped my extreme focus superpower, something I didn’t even know she could do.

  Thanks, El! I thought absently towards her. There wasn’t much she could do from in the Void, but this would help. The Void! I just realized that I may be able to use it as an escape route! I thrust out my sword at a daemon, slicing into his chest and then tried to step. Unfortunately, another daemon bit my leg, the pain making me lose focus. I had to concentrate on the fight in front of me.

  Nica. Enoch’s mind voice was strong. Coming up behind them now.

  Oh, thank god! I watched as Ridwan, Inias, Enoch and Malak appeared and started cutting down daemons who were still half in the brambles on the far path near the entrance to this area. I exhaled, relaxing since the cavalry had come and I didn’t have to fight too much longer. There was a reason why they had put the two Hyrs with me at all times, I guess.

  Suddenly, Achilah appeared in front of me. He was not going to give up, even with the Tennins here fighting with me. He waited until I dropped my sword slightly, and then he slipped in between strokes. His knife went deep into my chest, his eyes focused on mine.

  Nica! El screamed, her mind touching mine.

  “Nica!” Malak roared at the same time, charging Achilah. The dark daemon turned his head slightly, noticing that most of his group had been cut down. He shoved the knife in a little more and leaned in towards me.

  “Even if I don’t get your powers, neither will they.” His voice oozed around me, sinking into my mind. He then teleported away, as Malak grabbed me.

  I dropped, my mind going fuzzy, Malak going down with me.

  Poison, Nica! I can detect a poison in you that must have been on his knife. El screamed in my head.

  “Poison.” I gasped, holding the knife in my chest.

  Ridwan and Inias appeared on either s
ide of me. Ridwan pulled out the knife while Inias put pressure on my wound.

  “We need a healer!” Ridwan yelled at Enoch, who was finishing up with the last daemons.

  I looked up at Ridwan and tried to smile.

  “Hang on, Nica.” Inias leaned in, trying to reassure me. I could feel TK touching my leg, his sorrow coming across the bond link. Both him and El were grieving, so I knew this was bad.

  Enoch came over and stood, looking down on me. After what seemed like several minutes, he quietly stated, “She is dying. A healer won’t help her much now. Transition her, Hyrs.”

  Ridwan looked up at him, his eyes frantic as if this had never been the end goal, but Inias smiled down at me. The smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, but those pale blue eyes held kindness. “You’ll be okay, Nica. We will see you on the other side.” His voice was calm and confident. So much so, I tried to smile back at him, even though it hurt.

  He looked up at Ridwan. “It’s time. This is what we do, partner.” Ridwan’s breath hitched once, but he moved to place his hands over Inias’s, which were on my chest. I could feel my heart struggling to beat, but I looked up at Malak.

  “Tell Marcus and Kaitie I love them.” My voice was faint, but I was sure he could hear me even though he had stood up once Enoch had declared me to Transition. He nodded, tears silently falling from his eyes. “Watch over them. And TK.”

  It was strange, but I could still feel my bonds with El and TK. They both were latched onto my mind or my soul.

  I will be with you through your death and your Transition. El promised. I will be able to explain so much more at that time, Nica.

  TK was silent. I could feel his sorrow and his tight grip on my leg, but he didn’t speak via the bond, even though it still felt strong. I hoped that he would still be bonded to me after I transitioned, but I didn’t even think to ask if Tennin have bonds with daemons. I suspected not. Perhaps I would be the first or perhaps our bond would not last the Transition.