* * *
Hours later, when I pulled a bottle of water from my purse and drank some of it as I ate yet another pastry, Aquila growled as he said, “Fuck, kitten. How much food and water and coffee is in your damned purse?”
“Enough. Tell me about the transformation process. What can I expect to happen?”
“I’d like to tell you it’s painless, but it isn’t. There are things I can do to reduce the torment, but every cell in your body will be transformed, and…” He shook his head. “There’s only so much I can deflect, but I’ll do what I can.”
I shook my head. “I’m not afraid of pain. I want to know what it will do to my mind, my thoughts. What senses I’ll gain — strengths, weaknesses. Will I still be me? Or will I be an evil version of me? Or someone else entirely? Will I have my memories?”
“You’ll know who you are, and will keep your memories, though you’ll view them as if from another life. Your senses will be heightened and you’ll be a lot stronger. It takes some getting used to, but I’ll help you through it.”
“You’ll be in my head? I won’t be able to get you out?”
“Yes, but based on your human strengths and abilities, there’s a good chance you’ll someday be a whole lot stronger than me as a vampire, so I won’t abuse my power. I’ll make it as easy on you as I can.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to be like you. I like being human and I love being a mom. My patients depend on me.” I sighed. “My daughter’s already been orphaned once. You’re about to orphan her again.”
“Some vampires make newborns drink down their loved ones first, but I’ll make you a deal — if you work with me and don’t fight me, I’ll see to it your daughter and parents stay safe.”
I shook my head. “You’ll do it anyway, or as soon as I’m stronger than you, I’ll torture you for years before I allow you the true death.”
Once again, his smile was so damned creepy I wanted to rub goose bumps off my arms, but I sat still and didn’t give him the satisfaction as he said, “Oh, you’re going to make a most excellent Celrau.”
* * *
I’d long since run out of food and water when I noticed the ashes of the vampire I’d killed seemed to shift when I wasn’t looking. I thought it was my imagination at first, but I focused on a section of them, memorized the pattern, and closed my eyes and counted to three hundred slowly, which should’ve been about five minutes. When I opened them, I saw more matter and less of the rough stone floor.
I found dozens of experiments to conduct — I altered my vision to investigate the bubble of energy around me in every way possible, I closed my eyes and listened to people talking and moving in other rooms, and I felt for the energy around me to see what I could get from it, but it was so dark and foul I had to stop because I didn’t want to pick up any more of the vibrations from this world than I had to.
I thought back to what Mordecai had told me of this place, and I recalled everything I knew about the Celrau. My physical weapons worked on them, but I hadn’t been able to explode their heads with my thoughts — the ones I’d tried it on had been able to dissipate the energy as I pushed it in. I was fairly certain Aquila didn’t know about my ability to make weapons of light, and I thought back to Mordecai working with me to create them from other parts of my body, in case my hands weren’t readily available. I could now shoot a laser from my nose and tongue, could create knives extending from my toes, and I could imagine a shirt and pants of light, so no one could grab me without burning themselves.
I thought there were at least fifty people in the outer room, but I believed some of them were human. It sounded like Aquila would have to take me close to a gateway for the actual turning so we’d be close enough to the human world for the new moon’s pull to work. I figured I should have an opportunity to get away at some point, and it might make sense to wait until we were close to the gateway to do it.
Where would I run if I escaped now? Sure, I could get out of the bubble or circle or whatever the hell he wanted to call it, and possibly fight my way out of here, but I’d use up a lot of my reserves because I’d have to use the laser, and I had no idea where to run for help or how to get back to my world.
I needed sleep, but I fought it. I needed to be warm, too, but that wasn’t a viable option so I huddled in the blanket.
At some point I realized I wasn’t as cold, almost as an afterthought. I closed my eyes and listened, and could hear people better in the other room. I looked closely at my surroundings again, through the circle and focusing on the fires and people, and I could see them better, as if it wasn’t as dark as it’d been when I’d looked hours before.
And then I heard Aquila in my head.
You soaked in the blood of one of us. Doesn’t matter you wiped most of it off, enough penetrated your skin and made it into your bloodstream — some of the transformation has already begun, kitten.
Adrenaline must have dumped into my veins, because I had to force myself to sit still and not go into a fight-or-flight response. I’d had plenty of practice keeping my thoughts aimed at what I wanted Mordecai to know, so I did the same now, as it appeared Aquila was already in my head.
I spoke softly, unwilling to admit to a telepathic conversation. I couldn’t see him, but I assumed he’d hear. “He was one of yours, so my connection to him gives you a connection to me.”
Yes. I feel your thirst. I can have someone bring you some water, as well as a fire since it’s no longer important to get you to drink my blood.
“How long will it take him to reconstruct himself?”
We’ll help him once we get him out of the circle. He’ll be weak for his new moon feeding, and will likely need to take on the souls of two humans to gain his full strength back.
“Are you trying to make me feel guilty? Make me think twice before reducing more of you to ashes?”
Is it working?
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him I was going to enjoy killing him, but instead I told him, “I’m not responsible for the actions of others.”
You’re so sure you can take me out, kitten?
Well, that answered the question of how far he’d made it into my head. I couldn’t feel him in there, which meant the blood had let him come in without having to breech my shields.
I had no idea how to push him out, so I burst into a rendition of Bobby McFerrin’s Don't Worry Be Happy, cycled into This Little Light of Mine, and then back to Don’t Worry once again. When I grew tired of those, I sang a brilliant inner rendition of every song from The Sound of Music, and sang Do-Re-Mi a dozen times in a row because my instincts told me it annoyed Aquila.
I’d been bound with blood magic a while back, so the Concilio could be sure I don’t give any supernatural secrets to humans. I’d asked lots of questions about how it worked, and I’d basically learned blood allows people to get inside your shields no matter how strong you hold them.
So, I kept singing, and I kept it to happy, joyous songs. This place may reek of malevolence, but I’d been so full of energy it hurt when they took me, and I was holding onto it and trying to keep the evil of this place from affecting me.
Chapter 5
I was most of the way through the Schoolhouse Rock musical when Aquila squatted outside the circle and watched me a few moments.
I didn’t stop my inner singing, and he finally said, “For fuck’s sake, kitten. Stop the incessant singing. We’re about to move you and I need to tell you what’s going to happen.”
I went through the chorus of Don’t Worry, Be Happy again before stopping, and was happy when he didn’t smile at me.
“I’m sorry my smile creeps you out. Here’s what is going to happen — you can either get into the cage and let my people come into the circle and lock you in before moving the cage with you in it, or I can send enough people in to subdue you and put you in the cage. The first option allows you to be conscious and keep your purse, the second means we’ll have to knock you out, and while you’re
out I’ll take it from you and search you to see what else you may have with you.”
I knew he was aware of my thoughts, but I had to consider my options before I could respond, and I hadn’t just fought to stay awake for around forty hours just to have them knock me out and make me helpless.
“I’ll get in the cage.”
When I was in and near the back, four men came in with Aquila’s help, but only one of them got close enough to lock me in. I wondered if they drew straws in Hell, or if there’d been some kind of deal struck so he got something in return for being the brave one.
I started Do-Re-Mi in my head again and Aquila groaned, but he didn’t say anything.
I heard a slight pop, and grabbed my head in pain as the reverberations of the circle being broken hit me, soon followed by a blast of fiery air so strong it took my breath away.
The heat struck me like going from a refrigerator into a desert with hot blowing winds, and when I finally pulled a lungful of air in, I gagged and retched at the stench. I came out of the blankets and pulled my shirt up over my nose to breathe through. It didn’t block much of the stench but every little bit helped.
But it wasn’t just the heat assaulting me. Evil and chaos permeated this place and threatened to take me over. I braced against it as best I could, strengthened my already reinforced shields, and concentrated on the energy of the happy, joyous songs I sang in my head.
The men around me ran long poles through the bars and lifted them onto their shoulders, so I was carried between them and yet far enough away I couldn’t physically touch any of them. The swaying of the cage didn’t help my nausea, but I was determined not to show weakness by being sick. Besides, I needed the fluid and calories in my stomach.
We entered another room about the same size as the one we left, and I saw perhaps thirty people. From there, we travelled through a hallway that looked like an old waterway in a cave. It was tight in a few places, but the cage fit — though it banged against the walls more than once and I was sure to keep all my body parts inside.
We entered a large cavern and I stopped my internal version of My Favorite Things to gape. There were hundreds of people in here, and the ones not using hellfire to forge weapons were practicing with them in another section of the huge, almost cathedral-like room.
The cacophony of noises was deafening and I didn’t want to try to scream to be heard, so I finally aimed my thoughts at Aquila to ask, You’re building an army?
Yes, and you’ll be a mighty warrior for our side.
My weapons were of the li…. I cut off my thoughts and started singing This Little Light of Mine again, but I felt Aquila’s interest.
They must’ve walked with me for over an hour, and the swaying of the cage made me even sleepier at the same time it gave me motion sickness. When my internal singing got on my own nerves until I couldn’t stand it any longer, I recited the multiplication tables.
The heat and smell were awful, and I took my yoga pants off under my skirt, and pushed the blankets out of the bars, so they hung below me but no longer restricted airflow.
In the midst of some of the most annoying singing, I came up with plans in the back of my head. I hoped Aquila was just checking in every once in a while, and leaving when he heard the songs.
I was certain he was aware of the gun, and it was possible I’d given away too much by almost saying my weapons were of the light. Still, if we were right beside a doorway to the human realm, I’d give it a try and fight for my life in hopes I could step over the threshold to go home.
I’d also realized I could hear the difference in the humans’ heartbeats versus the vampires’. If you discounted the men here to guard me, the remainder were almost half and half, with just a few more vampires than humans. Was every human moving with us about to be turned?
We’d just come out of yet another narrow tunnel into yet another large cavernous space when the heartbeats of the men and vampires sped. I shouldn’t have been able to hear it, and I was disturbed I had, but also curious about the men standing in our way, blocking us.
Aquila stepped to the front of our party of around eighty and said, “We have permission to be here. Please let us through.”
“You have someone who needs to be returned. Your deal with Demonkind was that you’d abide by our laws and wishes and would not bring unexpected trouble on our heads. We don’t care about the Concilio’s laws concerning your numbers, but the woman named Kirsten is under protection from people we do not wish to provoke. Hand her over and you may continue.”
These demons looked nearly human, and my experience fighting them at home told me this meant they were powerful. I heard people at our back and noted the same kind of heartbeat I heard from the demons in front of us, and realized we were surrounded by demons.
“Since when do you care about who The Abbott has under his protection?” Aquila asked the demon.
I practically screamed about Humpty Dumpty’s great fall in my head now, over and over on an endless loop so I wouldn’t consider all the people who might be trying to get me back. I didn’t know if it was a secret, but the demon wasn’t saying who it was so I probably shouldn’t, either.
“You only need to know that you cannot keep her if you wish us to hold up our end of the bargain.” The demon’s voice was close to human, but deeper and… abrasive.
“You have no authority over us. We won’t yield her to you. Bring someone with the authority to give us orders and we’ll hand her over.”
With my enhanced eyesight, the demons came into focus and they seemed to be made of shadows instead of light. No, that wasn’t quite right.
Everything solid in the human realm is made from matter that either reflects or absorbs light. Even non-solids, like steam, reflect and absorb light. On Earth, we aren’t seeing the object so much as the way the light reflects off it, or is absorbed by it.
These demons seemed to be a reflection of the shadows more than a reflection of the light. They weren’t dark so much as… different.
The men blocking our way parted to let someone walk through, and every vampire present went to their knees when he came into view.
He was winged, and the other demons weren’t. His wings were huge, black, and feathered, though his body appeared made of skin. He was covered by something more than a loincloth, though not by much, and he was the epitome of male perfection. He was all muscle and sinew, abs to die for, thighs that could…. I cut off my thoughts as I realized my internal singing had long since been forgotten, but I didn’t think Aquila was listening to my thoughts right now because the winged demon stood in front of him and asked, “Do I qualify as someone with enough authority?”
This winged man oozed power, authority, and ‘otherness’ in much the same way as Mordecai, and I understood why everyone had gone to their knees. Just being in his presence made you feel as if you weren’t worthy to be there.
Something about the way he talked sounded familiar, but I couldn’t…
“Of course, Xaephan. What will you give us in exchange for the woman?”
Xaephan? Fuck. I had no idea if this was a good thing or a bad one. The voice was different, as he’d been speaking through Jerry’s body when I’d talked to him, but the intonation and the almost German accent were the same.
“This isn’t a negotiation, Aquila. The woman is coming with me. It can either be peaceful, or I can create a pile of bodies. Your choice. I have a sword of oak and authorization to use it should it become necessary — no one will survive my wrath.”
I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I worried I’d be in worse shape with my rescuer than with my original abductors so I grasped the cage bars over my head with my left hand while I swept a rapidly made knife through the bars all around the cage. The bottom of the cage fell, my feet followed, and when they were on the ground I let go of the top of the cage with my left hand as I absorbed the knife and created a fighting staff. It formed from a white light, but it was possible it was just a touch more ora
nge than white.
I didn’t have time to worry about the color right now, though. Within seconds I’d cut every vampire around me in two. When the remaining Celrau and humans moved away so I was standing by myself, I told Xaephan, “I don’t need a rescue, but thanks for the effort. They were taking me to a gateway to turn me — my plan was to decommission them when we arrived so I could go home through the gateway. Since you’ve spoiled my plan, care to show me the way home?”
“It’s good to see you still have your own will, but I can smell them on you enough to know you shouldn’t go home yet. The Concilio will consider you Celrau enough, you’ll be slaughtered if you return to the human realm now. Let me take you somewhere so we can get their blood out of your system, and then we’ll see what we can do about getting you home.”
He didn’t say he’d let me go home, only that he’d help get their blood out of my system. I stayed in my fighting stance, my staff in front of me, but I didn’t turn it to shoot a laser at him. He could just absorb it and drain me, and I needed all of my own energy in this place.
“The longer I stay, the harder it’ll be to go back.”
“This is true, but I can sense how much energy of the other world you have inside you, and you’ll be okay for a couple of days if you’re careful with it. What do I need to do to convince you I’m not the enemy on this day?”
I couldn’t stay here a couple of days. Lauren would completely meltdown if I didn’t come home for days. I focused back on the present and asked, “Who sent you?”
He shook his head. “I can tell you this in private, but the Celrau do not need to know.”
I was reciting the alphabet as I listened, but I had to stop in order to talk and I worried about what Aquila was getting from my thoughts.
If someone tells you not to think of a red fire engine, the vast majority of the human population has an image of a red fire engine pop into their head. A few will make it a blue fire engine, but the human brain automatically jumps onto whatever is being discussed. I was doing my best to picture Abbott anytime a protector was mentioned, but I wasn’t positive I’d succeeded.
An Unhuman Journey Page 4