It was him. Michael responded. The one with cruel red eyes.
Him who? Amelia abruptly asked. He had forgotten she was there, but she was still at his bedside just as concerned. Michael could tell she felt helpless, not being able to understand what was happening or do anything about it.
Miriam paused for a moment, before deciding to answer her. Ragnarok. He’s one of the demons who attacked yesterday – the one with red eyes who almost killed your brother. Michael just had a… She looked at him concerned again, trying to find the right word. A vision? She asked expectantly, as if he might know.
More like a hallucination. He commented.
Miriam continued. A vision of Ragnarok trying to kill him again. At least, that’s what I think was happening.
They both looked at her confused, but Michael was the one to question her first, in a whisper. “Wait, how did you come to that conclusion?”
“It seemed pretty obvious to me.” She whispered back, out loud. “The six pillars. There are six demon kings who rule because they are the strongest. Ragnarok, who is one of these kings, probably thinks you will become the seventh if your transformation is completed. And…” She paused then, looking away, blushing suddenly. “I also think you might become the seventh, given what I’ve seen so far.”
“Oh…” He wasn’t sure how to react to that news. A demon king? Him? What did that even mean? Would he be required to return to her world as a ruler? Would that mean he couldn’t stay in the human world after all? He had a difficult time imagining himself as something other than a regular person – or demon for that matter. He decided to focus back on his hallucination instead of thinking too much about what she was implying. “And the wooden pieces?”
She nodded. “The same. Oddly enough, you somehow saw the human version of him, playing an ancient game of chess. Again, there were seven pieces, five kings and two queens. The piece that he shattered was you.”
Now Michael was confused. “I thought you said there were six kings?”
“Six rulers,” she corrected herself. “In our language we don’t have words for king and queen. It’s a gender-neutral term. So, I should have said ‘ruler.’ Currently, there are four kings and two queens…” She then immediately clarified when she saw he was misunderstanding. “They aren’t together. Each ruler has a non-ruler…spouse, essentially. Currently, there is only one king-queen pair where the spouse happens to be another ruler…at least, currently…”
“And?” He encouraged her, uncertain why she had stopped.
“Well…” She bit her lip. “If you end up being strong enough to be a demon king, then there will be two king-queen pairs…”
It took him a second for her words to sink in. He almost yelled in surprise when he realized what she was saying, quickly lowering his voice. “You’re a demon queen?!”
She blushed again, seeming embarrassed by his reaction. “Well, yes, I am. And my father and brother are rulers as well. My mother is not, nor is my brother’s…spouse.” Michael noticed she seemed to be having trouble finding the right word for the relationship between partners. She then continued. “That’s what you were seeing. You saw three and three, first as pillars and then as wooden chips. That must be how Ragnarok perceives it. He sees my father, Gilgamesh, along with his ruling son and daughter as a unit. And with the addition of you, it would place even more power within that familial unit.”
Miriam paused again, as she tried to fully understand how their enemy might view the situation. “To Ragnarok, you are a threat far beyond our initial problem. To him, you are unbalancing the scales of power.” She then cursed in her strange language. “I should have realized you weren’t safe yet. He’s going to try again. Even though my father made a way for this to be allowed, he’s still going to try again.” She cursed a second time, and then was quiet as she thought to herself.
“Are you sure it wasn’t just a hallucination?” He wondered out loud.
Miriam shook her head. “Even if it was, it doesn’t change the fact that what I just told you is true. Plus, how could you have known there were six rulers? Your vision is too intentional – too accurate – for it to just be by chance. He will try again.” When Michael was still skeptical, she continued. “Your sister can move objects with her mind, so why is it so hard to believe you might have some ability to see into the future? Well, at least your future…”
Amelia silently agreed, but had her mind elsewhere, worrying about the threat on her brother’s life. She abruptly spoke her thoughts. “But, surely, aren’t there laws or something? Can he really just kill and get away with it?”
Miriam glanced at her before answering. “If Michael were already fully a demon, then there would be nothing Ragnarok could do. However, your brother is still in between a human and demon. So, there’s currently nothing really stopping him, beyond brute force, from attempting to take his life again.”
“Ragnarok won’t respect the decision of the other rulers? Including your decision?” Michael wondered.
She shook her head again. “He’s not going to bother trying to be political at a time like this. For him, there is little consequence if he succeeds in killing you, at least not while you’re still part-human. And there’s no time to try to overturn our current laws. Brute force, or hiding, are our only methods of protecting you right now.”
“Why hasn’t he tried already?” He asked as he looked at the ceiling, recalling the events of the last day. “Why didn’t he do it last night?”
“Because the two with blue eyes, Enkidu and Lilith are also demon rulers. They are currently the only king-queen pair. And they accepted my father’s decision. Thus, Ragnarok found himself without reinforcements – he couldn’t take me on alone, never mind that Enkidu and Lilith would have protected me, and my brother was rapidly coming to my aid. It would have been four rulers against one.”
“Gabriel was there?!” He looked at her stunned.
“Yes.” She nodded. “Although I’m not surprised you didn’t know. When I lost my concentration, my brother knew, because he could sense me again. He assumed something must be wrong, so he came immediately. However, the other four, including Ragnarok’s partner, had already left when Gabriel arrived. I explained to him what had happened, and then he left to talk to our father.”
What happened anyway? Michael wondered to himself, recalling that she had never really explained why they had stopped trying to kill him.
Even though he hadn’t directed the question at her in particular, she answered him. “As soon as I bit you, your mind projected a vision to us all. Don’t you remember it? Somehow, you found my father’s mind even though he was far away, and it allowed him to talk to us despite the distance. He was already coming to tell us I could bite you, but he would have been too late.”
Michael vaguely remembered seeing a pair of unfamiliar red eyes, as well as hearing a strange language he hadn’t understood, but that was all. Had that really been her father? Why had Michael been able to communicate with him? And how had his mind become a catalyst to allow her father to speak to all of them? Certainly, that wasn’t normal, even for them.
Miriam agreed that he was a mystery. “Yes, my father, Gilgamesh, is very interested in meeting you once you’ve fully transformed. However, I wish I could speak with him now to request his assistance in protecting you. As it is, both my brother and father are too far away for me to talk to them. So, I may have to take you away again and hide by concealing my mind until you’ve finished.”
Michael immediately understood the implications of what she was saying. If she had to close off her mind, then he would be spending the rest of his time in hell alone. She wouldn’t be able to comfort him with her mental presence anymore. He looked away, trying to hide the sudden despair in his expression. Negative emotions inevitably made his physical pain worse.
“Is there some way I can help?” Amelia asked, still deeply concerned. It had scared her knowing that her brother’s life was in danger, and she was even m
ore terrified to find out it still was.
Miriam considered her offer briefly before shaking her head. “Ragnarok is very cunning. It will probably be best for you to stay with your parents and protect them, so he doesn’t try to use your family against us.”
Amelia’s eyes widened as she registered what Miriam was saying. “O-Okay…I can do that…just…please…Miriam, please protect my brother.” She hated having to choose between him and their parents, but she knew she couldn’t leave their family to fend for themselves.
Miriam reached out and gently touched her on the shoulder. “I will. I’ll protect him with my life.” I promise. He is my life now.
Chapter 17: Vision
Knowing that the stress caused by dwelling on the situation was increasing his sensitivity to the pain, Miriam decided Michael should rest for a while before they moved to a different location. She insisted they could run immediately if she did sense anything, but she doubted they were in any immediate danger while it was still light outside – although, not because of the sun.
Apparently, the most strategic time for Ragnarok to attack them would be a full day after Michael had been bitten, because that’s when the pain should be at its worse, making it the most difficult time to protect him. That gave him and Miriam the rest of the day to stay in his room, so long as Amelia could ensure his parents didn’t come in. Really, there was no reason for them to, other than to have something to remind them of their recently missing son.
Amelia had willingly volunteered to try to make sure they weren’t interrupted. Granted, it wasn’t like she could have stayed in his room, since it would have seemed weird for her to do so without raising suspicion. So now it was just him and Miriam laying together on his bed.
When Michael had asked about how she was able to sense the others, she explained it was different depending on the nature of the relationship. According to her, she was able to detect her family members no matter how far away they were, whereas she was unable to sense the others unless they were in a radius of what she estimated to be about fifty miles. This smaller fifty-mile radius was also the speaking range for her family, whereas the speaking range for other demons was less than a mile.
Michael was confused about how it had been possible for them to be attacked so unexpectedly if she could sense Ragnarok so far away, but she reminded him that they can travel extremely fast at full speed.
“We can’t just instantly be at full-speed. It does take a little time to go from not moving to our fastest. In the case yesterday, the four who attacked dropped from the sky at an extremely alarming rate prior to abruptly slowing down about half a mile before they reached the ground. That’s why we all arrived at the same time. Even though I was closer, I wasn’t going nearly as fast by the time I reached you.”
“That’s hard to believe,” Michael admitted, “especially since you seem to easily move so fast that I can’t even follow it.”
“Well, part of that is from the illusion I can create in your mind. I’m certainly moving fast, but not so fast you wouldn’t be able to at least see a blur. Instead I just make myself disappear entirely, rather than only my non-human features.” She then smirked. “If I tried moving so fast you couldn’t see me leave, not even a blur, then it would be really loud and probably kill you.”
“What? How?” He stared at her in disbelief.
“Well…” She thought about it for a moment, her crimson eyes pensive. “Do you know why lightning causes thunder?” When he shook his head, she continued. “It’s because the lightning splits the air. And when that air collides with itself again, it creates thunder. That’s basically what would happen if I disappeared that fast without my illusion. And as far as harming you, well I’m sure you know what a sonic boom is, right?”
Michael nodded. He did know about that. When airplanes fly faster than sound, it creates a shockwave, but how harmful could that be? It’s just sound after all. “That can hurt a person?”
She nodded. “If an airplane is flying low enough, it can shatter windows. However, if I did that near a human, it would shatter bones and rupture organs. If you survived, you’d probably bleed to death very quickly.” She the smirked at his shocked expression, almost laughing. “But that’s not even our fastest! As far as speed goes, let’s just say that those darts fired at me last night travel much slower than I’m capable of. That’s why hitting them out of the air was easy for me to do.”
“And I’ll be able to do that too?” He wondered breathlessly.
Miriam looked at him endearingly. “Yes, love. Your body is already stronger and faster, although…” She gave him a chastising look, knowing what he was thinking, “…you don’t need to be testing it out right now. While I think you’ll be okay, I’m not about to chance you dying on me again. You’re still not healed of all your internal injuries.” She then intentionally emphasized smelling his scent to confirm her point.
Michael sighed apologetically, irritated by his own weakness. “I guess once I am able to move that fast, I’ll have to be very careful around people.” She nodded in response, so he changed the subject. “And what about last night? How did you know they were going to attack again?”
“My brother tipped me off. His partner Priscilla came to the human world to let him know it might be a possibility. Turns out, she came just in time.”
Gabriel has a partner? He thought to himself in passing. He realized he should have assumed that, but it was weird that everyone seemed to have one except Miriam.
“Yes,” she agreed, watching him closely, “very few demons are lacking a partner. I’ve waited a long time for you.”
Embarrassed by her sudden intensity, he blushed and glanced away. He was thankful Priscilla was on their side too, because without her help the previous night may have turned out very differently.
Recalling that their attackers had arrived shortly after Miriam had revealed her location, due to being distracted by him coughing up blood, he realized it really had been close. Miriam had come to get him at the police station just in time. It might have only been a few minutes difference between those red eyes in the dark being Ragnarok’s eyes instead of Miriam’s.
He shivered at the thought, remembering the experience of sitting at the metal table in the interrogation room when the lights went out. Now that he thought about it, that table did seemed appetizing.
Miriam?! He looked at her shocked.
“What’s wrong love?” She asked in a whisper, immediately concerned.
Why do I suddenly have the urge to eat metal?!
She pulled back slightly to get a better look at him. “Oh…that was fast…”
“What was fast?” He whispered urgently. “Don’t tell me you eat metal…” I thought you drank blood!
Miriam grinned at his confused expression. “Well, I do normally. However, when you’re first transforming you’ll get the urge to eat all kinds of unusual things. Metal, bones, gems. You’ll want to eat meat too, but that probably wouldn’t surprise you.” After he still looked confused, she continued. “What? Did you think wings and horns were just going to sprout out of thin air? They have to come from somewhere.”
“So then, your wings are metal?” He was still completely baffled.
She smirked at his assumption. “No, not exactly. They are probably more like bone than metal, but our bodies need to absorb the nutrients necessary to make them. I guarantee you’ll want to eat meat and bones too.”
Michael looked at her even more concerned. “Actually, I think I do…but…” He then felt disgusted when considering what specifically to eat.
Miriam smirked at him again. “Silly, did you suddenly become a vegetarian? You’ve eaten animals all your life, why would it bother you now? I can go get you some chicken to start you off.”
“Oh!” He was surprised he could eat something so normal. “O-Okay. Yeah, actually that would be great.”
She grinned at him again, before immediately vanishing. He could sense her rapidly traverse a
large distance, being several miles away within half a minute. And then, she was on her way back, appearing in his room again after being gone for barely a full minute. She had three already-cooked rotisserie chickens in black plastic containers.
He wanted to ask her where she had gotten them from, but then suspected that he knew already. She had likely stolen them from a store, moving fast enough to not have to worry about normal security cameras picking her up – either that or she just was able to avoid them entirely. Michael hesitated as she handed him one of the containers, trying to resist the mouthwatering smell. She smirked at his ethical dilemma but didn’t try to intervene.
After a few seconds of internal turmoil, he realized his new life wasn’t going to be one of perfect morality, and he certainly couldn’t wait to buy something like this – his hunger was rapidly escalating.
Miriam noted the rapid change in his appetite. “Yes, it’s best you eat this now. If you wait too long, you’ll become ravenous.”
“Is that bad?” He asked concerned.
“Umm, it can be. Let’s just say you’ll become a much less picky eater. In that state, you wouldn’t hesitate to eat a live chicken.”
“Oh.” Not wanting to test that theory out, Michael abruptly pulled open the plastic box and began pulling apart the roasted chicken. He was so hungry already that he didn’t even notice that he was chewing and swallowing everything – including the bones. It was only after he was looking at the empty box that he realized something was off – there was literally nothing left of it. The bones hadn’t even been difficult to chew, nor were they hard to swallow. It had been no different than eating a bag of chips.
Miriam was quick to get his attention by handing him the next one. Then, as he began to eat it, for the first time he felt a different sensation than the raging fire burning throughout his body. He felt itchy, especially on his head. He went to scratch the area, shocked that there was a small nob on his scalp.
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