“Actually, I do know something about that. It has only been about 15 years since someone tried to turn a human into a fae.” He looked down at the ground as he said this and pulled me tighter to his right side.
“How is that possible? What does it take? Can I talk to this hybrid fae?” I was starting to get excited with the possibility that it might work.
“Actually, you can’t talk to her. She died in the process. But I do know how it is done and can help you with your transformation when the time comes.” He looked very sad and stopped and gave me a hug right there in the middle of the hallway. It was one of the warmest, tightest hugs I have had in a very long time and I felt all tingly.
In addition to the tingles he gave me, I was also hoping he might try to kiss me. But then I remembered the way they affected me and realized I really didn’t want some stranger kissing me. Then I wondered if I was changed, would this ‘mesmerizing effect’ no longer get to me? That alone might be reason enough to go through the change.
“Did you know this person? Were you there?”
“Yes, I knew her. She was to be my mate.” At this point he looked at me with a smile and a far off look on his face. Like he was remembering some precious moment he had shared with her.
“What happened, and how was a human to be your mate?” I whispered a little bit in awe of what he was telling me.
“She was taken by the rippers to be changed, but they had not yet started the transformation. I caught up to them as they were taking her down to the Tube. I was in London at the time. My squad killed the rippers while I took her away to safety. I brought her to a safe house we had and made sure she was alright. But my commander acted similar to Commander Terra. He told me I should have altered her memories or killed her. But altering her memories would most likely scramble her brains. We have not yet perfected that process.
“You see it is not our job to protect you humans, not really. Our job is to actually make sure that the rippers don’t take any humans and make them into hybrids. We are only here to keep the rippers from creating an army to send back home to Sendryl.
“I immediately felt like she was the one true love of my life. For the fae, we believe in love at first sight. And we only mate with one. If our mate dies, then we never take another mate. Hannah, that was her name, stayed with us for several weeks. She helped to clean up our HQ in London and learned about us while we got closer and closer. She decided that she wanted to be changed so that we could be together. But something happened with the process. I didn’t know that I was missing a piece of the process.
“You have to cut the human and a fae enough to get a good blood flow and then mix their blood together. No one told me that we only had to mix our blood. I thought it was the same process as when the rippers created a hybrid. But it wasn’t. So instead of turning her, I actually killed her.”
“Ash I am so sorry you lost your one true love. Does that mean you will never take a mate?” I really hoped in time once he got over her he would fall in love again. He couldn’t be very old, I know they can live long but he looks so young, maybe 24? So I was guessing he couldn’t be older than 35 since they aged much slower. He has a long way to go still.
“While she was never my mate, I did love her with everything I had. I doubt I can love like that again. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t try.” He said seductively while leaning in closer to me and kissing my cheek.
I took that moment to remember who I am and I pushed him back. “Stop flirting so much! We might end up on the same squad, how awkward would that be?
“Can you tell me what kind of powers or abilities I might get when I transform?” I was trying to change the subject and get back to what we were discussing, but I think he knew exactly what I was doing.
He smiled at me and took my hand and pulled it through the crook in his right arm. While we walked to the kitchen, he said. “I don’t know exactly what will happen. When I did my research for Hannah, it was discovered that all fae hybrids lived a long life, but none over 200 years, they averaged 150 years.
“They also had increased strength and speed but to varying degrees. Their looks did change, some more than others.” He said that laughing as he caught me looking at his ears wondering if mine would be like his. “You won’t be getting my awesome ears, sorry babe. You will most likely look like a younger, sexier version of yourself.”
“Ok, so at the very least, long life and increased strength? That is good. Will I stop aging for a little while right where I am? Or do I keep getting older, but just slower?”
“Well, some of the humans stopped aging for a while, and then it seems they started to age at a much slower rate after about 20 – 30 years. But a couple were lucky enough to get younger. I think one person actually went back to her teenage years. Another ended up taking a good seven to eight years off, then they started aging again but very slowly. Each person had a different experience with the whole aging process. Why, did you want to look younger?”
“Well, yes I do. If I am going to be around a group of guys who look like they are in their early 20’s I would like to fit in better. Plus, what woman doesn’t want to look like they did when they were 20 again? That would make it all worthwhile.” I looked at him and gave him my most innocent look I could muster at that point. Then I busted up laughing.
“How old are you Ash? Do you count years the same way we do here on Earth?”
“No, we don’t have the same solar year that you have. Our planet takes about 2 of your Earth years to rotate around our sun. So, here on Earth I look to be about 24 or 25, I am actually the Earth equivalent of about 50. But on Sendryl I am only 24 cycles. Our cycle is just a bit over two earth years. So my Earth age is not exact.”
It was at that point that Lancer found us, sitting close to each other in the kitchen chatting and drinking coffee.
“Ash, what did I say earlier? If you are going to be a part of my team you need to listen to my orders. B’Lana is not your new play thing. Please leave her alone.” Lancer looked really mad at Ash. I was starting to think that they didn’t like each other. I wondered what their history was.
“Lancer, he wasn’t ‘playing’ with me. I had questions about the transformation that you couldn’t answer so I asked Ash when I saw him. He has knowledge and experience so he shared that with me.”
“Yes, I read about his experience with Hannah.”
“Ash, I am sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to lose a mate. But it seems like you discovered the missing piece? Our records indicated that had you known about the need to mix blood with a human, she would have survived. No one seems to understand how that piece of the process was left out of the records.”
“Did you find out anything else? Do you know what I should expect?” I was starting to get a bit nervous and flustered thinking about the procedure and wondered if I would survive it.
Lancer started to explain what he learned, and it turned out to be what Ash had already told me.
I needed some space and time to think. So I went back to my room, alone. Ash offered to join me, but I just smiled up at him and said I needed some time to think about all of this. He said he would come get me when it was time for dinner if I was still in my room.
____
The next morning I woke up feeling awful, and my left arm was killing me. Before showering I decided I needed coffee first and maybe some more Tylenol. That was where Lancer and Ash both found me.
“Good morning”. Ash looked at me smiling while he greeted me.
“Morning”. I grumbled back.
Lancer looked closely at me and started asking me what was wrong.
“You mean besides being a prisoner here with the threat of immediate death over my head all the time? Not much. Well… except for the pain in my arm from that stupid ripper and an overall feeling that I am already dead.” I glumly replied while keeping my eyes right on my coffee.
Ash dropped his coffee and ran over to me and star
ted checking me for a fever. When he put his hand on my forehead he pulled it back right away and picked me up like I weighed nothing. Not that I am fat or anything, but I am a grown woman. So he should have been feeling at least some strain.
He put his right arm around my back and his left under my knees and carried me all the way to the infirmary. I did tell him he could put me down and let me walk, but he was not hearing any of that so I just enjoyed the ride.
Lancer ran ahead of us calling out for the commander, who came into the infirmary right after we did.
“What’s going on, why is Ash holding B’Lana?” The commander looked a bit peeved, almost like he expected something untoward might be going on between Ash and me. “Ash you can put her down now.”
“Sir, B’Lana woke up feeling awful, is running a fever and has a high level of pain in her left arm. I am worried that the ripper scratch might be infecting her somehow.” Lancer was searching for a thermometer and the med kit while he answered the commander.
Ash laid me down on the bed but sat next to my right side and held my hand while Lancer stood on the other side and started to take my temperature. Then he took off the bandage from the injury and noticed it was indeed infected.
I looked at the spot and gasped when I saw pus where I was scratched. It should have been scabbing over by this time, but it wasn’t. There was even some fresh blood.
“Guys, do you have any anti-biotics? That should help stop the infection. Also, you will need to clean the wound and re-dress it. Within a few days it should be fine. Most likely that ripper had some pretty dirty fingernails which caused the infection.” I was pretty sure that was all it was.
“We don’t carry human medicine. Ash you need to go out and find a pharmacy where you can get her the proper medicine.” The commander seemed to want to keep Ash away from me. I was not sure he was the best choice to go out and find the right medicine since he only arrived yesterday.
Turned out Ash was very quick about finding what I needed. He picked up several bottles of painkillers and antibiotics. I wasn’t sure how he got ahold of them as both required prescriptions. Better not to ask, I thought. He wasn’t sure what would work on me or if I had any allergies. I informed them that I didn’t have any allergies to medicine that I knew of.
I suggested that I start with the Azithromycin for the antibiotics as that was a strong, all around kind that would take care of most any infections. Then I told them to hand me the bottle of Norco for the pain. I thought it was a good thing that I remembered what DeeDee’s brother got from the doctor when he fell out of that tree and sprained his arm while landing on a rusty bucket.
After Lancer cleaned my wound and re-dressed it, I went back to the kitchen for breakfast of a bagel and coffee. All three men joined me and started asking me all kinds of questions about how I feel. I told them it was too soon to feel any better. The pain pills would take a little while to kick in, and the antibiotics would take a couple of days to see a difference, maybe longer since it was such a bad infection.
I went back to bed after breakfast. And I didn’t get up much, except to eat and take medicine.
The next day I was not any better. Lancer again cleaned and re-dressed my wound and I stayed mostly in bed. But this day Ash came in and sat by my bed off and on all day. I think he was reading to me. It sounded like Pride & Prejudice.
By the third day the rest of the squad came back and were disheartened to see my condition. They were all convinced that the infection was going to kill me.
Benden believed that while the scratch was not enough to start the transformation, it was enough to put the ripper DNA in my system and to start killing me. He believed I would not feel any better.
That was when Ash decided it was time to start my change.
“If we do nothing, she dies. If we try to change her and it doesn’t work she dies. But if it works she lives. So why not try and help her. We owe her that much at least.” He argued.
Lancer pretty much agreed with Ash; as did the rest of Squad 1. But the commander did not. He saw this as providence’s way of taking care of the issue that was me. He told me he would hate to see me die, but this was probably for the best as they weren’t even sure they could change me. Either way it would be very painful. If they killed me now they could do it quickly and painlessly.
I was not ready to die. I had started to want to become a hybrid fae. It sounded like it could be a really cool thing to be the only one of my kind in existence. Plus I could be the champion for the humans; which they really needed.
These past three days, when I was awake, gave me time to think about this. The fae were only concerned with keeping hybrid rippers from crossing over. They did not care about the innocent humans who were dying every day. I believed that they might have even been killing those they caught.
The commander had said something about wiping memories of those not changed. But I remembered that Lancer said it usually just fried their brains instead. That was not the solution either. We needed to find someone who would be the champion for the innocent humans, and I thought it was me.
“Ash, if you are willing, I want to try the transformation. Will you change me?” He looked a bit embarrassed and he started to look down at his fidgeting hands and I wondered if he was going to change his mind about wanting me to become a fae hybrid.
“Actually, I will be the one who performs the change on you B’Lana. Since you are my responsibility I will take care of you.” Lancer surprised me when he said this. I had the impression that he was tired of having me around and didn’t want to change me.
“Okaaaayyyy”, I said somewhat mystified at his desire to mix his blood with mine. “Will my infection cause you any issues?”
“No, I will be fine. And if it does we have medicine to help.” Lancer suggested I move to the infirmary and lay on the bed. Then he proceeded to tie me down to the bed.
“Wait, why are you tying me down? I am not going to get up and run away at this point.”
Ash told me it was for my safety as they weren’t sure if I would start convulsing or rolling around so much I would fall off the bed. I wasn’t too sure about this, but decided it didn’t matter. If I didn’t come out of the change right it would be better if I wasn’t able to hurt them. Also, it would be faster and easier for them to behead me if I was already tied up.
“B’Lana, when you wake and are feeling better, we might want to try this for fun.” Ash said as he raised his eyebrows suggestively at me.
“Thanks Ash! I needed a laugh.” I looked up at him and smiled as I let out a small giggle. “I hope I come out alright and there isn’t a need for these restraints when I awake.
“If I look to be in a lot of pain you can smash up a couple of the pain tablets and put them in a small bottle of water and have me drink it. That should help with my pain levels.” I was really trying to get away from his inappropriate flirting.
At this point, Lancer took out a surgical knife that had been sterilized and cut the inside of my left forearm. It was about a two inch gash. Then he turned the knife on his forearm and cut a similar length on himself.
He placed his arm against mine and had Ash tie our arms together. What happened next really surprised me. He laid down in bed with me and said he would stay there for a while. He thought it was best to keep our blood mixing as long as possible.
Lancer got up after about 15 minutes and cleaned my wrist and bandaged it. His wrist was cleaned and bandaged next, but it looked like his was already starting to heal.
While I was lying there, all eyes were on me. It was a very weird feeling. I was also starting to feel more pain so I asked for 3 of the Norco’s. They did tell me I would be in a lot of pain, so I figured I should try and stop it before it got too out of hand.
It didn’t help much. I was writhing in pain within an hour of the procedure. And then I started to sweat. Ash was looking down on me with fear in his eyes. It looked like he thought I was going to die.
“Ash�
� I… am… not… going… to… die.” I said between clinched teeth. The pain was so excruciating, I truly felt like someone had taken my insides and put them through a grinder and then put them back inside my body.
At that point, someone picked up my arm and put a needle with something inside me. I looked over to see that it was Lancer. “B’Lana I found some morphine to help with your pain. Hopefully you won’t have to keep this up for long.”
The morphine helped. After about thirty minutes I could barely feel anything at all. It was as though my whole body went to sleep and all I could feel was that tingling sensation.
I started to fall asleep about an hour after that. The last thing I remember hearing was Ash whispering into my ear, “Sleep tight my sleeping beauty. And don’t worry; I’ll be here when you wake up.”
What a flirt!
What’s next? Check out Eclipse of the Soul, Book 2 in The Interdimensional Saga coming soon! Keep reading for a sneak peek at the first chapter.
Want more? Follow me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/JLHendricks
Do you want to be notified when I have a new book release or major information updates? Check out my blog: https://jlhendricksblog.wordpress.com/blog/
Author’s Notes
I have written a couple of extra scenes from this book. For every 25 reviews I receive on Amazon, I will post on my webpage https://jlhendricksblog.wordpress.com/ a short story or outtake from the book (up to 2 outtakes for the first book). The first outtake is from early on in this story. It was a great scene between B’Lana and DeeDee before the book actually started. But it didn’t help to get the story started so I took it out. That one will go up after the first 25 reviews. Then after the next 25 I will upload another short story with one of the other characters from this book.
I need your help to get 50 reviews. That seems to be the magic number. If this helps me to get reviews I will continue to do this for my future books as well. All reviews count. While I hope to only receive good ones, I appreciate feedback even if it isn’t something I want to hear.
Eclipse of the Warrior: The Interdimensional Saga (Book 1) Page 5