However, something seemed off to him as he heard the door shut. There hadn’t been any light in the hallway either, even though there were windows in the office down the hall. Had the moon not risen yet? Or was it just too far away to reach down the hall?
Michael sat back in his chair, sighing heavily. He could tell that his eyes were trying to adjust to the sudden darkness, but there just wasn’t enough light to see anything at all. He couldn’t even see his fingers held right in front of his face. He instinctively looked back towards the door as he heard it opened again.
His heart stopped.
A pair of crimson eyes glowed faintly in the darkness – a shadow with red eyes. It quickly moved towards him, completely silent, and he found himself frozen in fear. It was too late. Miriam would never get there in time.
Michael reflexively closed his eyes, wondering if he would feel anything when he died.
He flinched as it touched his face, gently caressing his cheek with a familiar hand.
“Oh!” He exclaimed realizing who it was.
Miriam immediately placed her finger over his mouth to quiet him. She then leaned in close to whisper in his ear. “I’m sorry, love. I thought you’d be safe around other humans, but I think they’re coming for you again. There’s only one way for me to protect you now. I need to take you away. I can hide myself from them, but it will require all my concentration. I won’t be able to talk to you or even acknowledge you. Understand?”
He nodded slightly since she still had her finger on his mouth. He wanted to ask if it was worth the risk having him disappear while he was still being questioned, but then realized the threat must be imminent if she was going to such great extremes to ensure his safety.
She continued. “I’ve already told your sister. My brother will stay near her to make sure she is safe, but they are really just after you. Now, let’s go.” She scooped him out of the seat without waiting for him to respond, carrying him quickly out of the room.
He wrapped his arms around her neck and held on tight while, like an acrobat, she silently dodged someone in the hallway, before slipping through the office so fast that he began feeling nauseous. He hoped she knew better than to go too fast – he doubted he would survive if she moved at full speed.
She then moved quickly through the lobby, before slipping through the front doors. Surprisingly, it was extremely dark outside too. He realized that all the lights in the parking lot were off, and the moon was hidden behind a thick cloud. Although, now he could actually see the outline of Miriam’s face. She spoke again in a rush, glancing at him with her glowing eyes. “Okay, from this point on, I need to concentrate. We’re going to fly, so hold on tight.”
Shocked, he watched as Miriam’s wings spread out like two monstrous hands hovering over the ground. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t to suddenly soar into the air with no movement from her wings. He instantly felt sickened by the abrupt ascension.
Looking down, he saw they were already far above the ground, with nothing except bitterly frigid air between him and a quick death half a mile below. As he looked back at her wings, he saw that they were still completely motionless. Although, the air around them seemed to be distorted from some unseen force, like heat coming off the hood of a car. He looked back at Miriam to see that her expression was blank, as if there wasn’t a single thought in her mind. Her hair was blowing around wildly in the wind behind her.
Michael tried to look in front of them to see where they were going, but the wind cut too sharply against his exposed eyes, forcing tears to blur his vision. He instead looked back behind them again, seeing the rapidly passing landscape below. Really, he wanted to admire Miriam’s face, but didn’t want his staring to distract her.
He had flown in a plane once, so he did have an idea of what to expect when flying, which is why he was confused that the ground was moving by so fast. He strongly doubted they were going faster than an airplane, so he wondered if the fact that they were lower than what a plane would normally fly was the cause.
He also never imagined that flying like this would be so nauseating. He seemed to be becoming progressively more queasy the more time he spent chilled by the harsh air.
Unexpectedly, Michael coughed, just barely managing to cover his mouth in time before blood splattered on his hand.
Chapter 14: Bitten
Michael looked at the bright red slime on his palm, completely shocked, before the wind blew some of it off, hitting Miriam on the cheek.
She instantly lost her focus, seeing the blood slide through his fingers from the corner of her eye. Her expression turned to straight horror as she dropped instantly from the sky to the ground below. The motion sickened him even more, especially when she slowed down just before landing.
The moment her feet touched the ground, he found himself twisting in her arm, vomiting blood all over the tall grass. They had landed in some kind of field with no visible populace in sight.
Still feeling queasy, he looked up at Miriam apologetically as she knelt down, cradling him in her lap. “Sorry…” He began, but she cut him off, abruptly shaking her head.
Tears were filling her eyes. “No love, I’m sorry. We’re out of time. I should have realized flying would kill you faster. You’re really dying now. I can smell it.”
Michael reached up with his bloody hand, feeling his vision rapidly weaken, and gently caressed her cheek. He wanted to speak, but he couldn’t find the strength to say anything. She was right, he truly was dying. It felt like all his organs were bleeding inside him. His lungs were beginning to feel heavy, and it was becoming more difficult to breathe.
Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he saw them appear – the four demons who were hunting him. Miriam’s wings instantly wrapped around them protectively like a small cage, the bony fingers weaving together tightly, but the monsters didn’t immediately attack.
It was obvious to them that he was dying. He tried to focus on Miriam’s eyes, but she leaned in towards him to whisper in his ear. He could feel her warm breath caress his face as she spoke softly.
“My love, you mean more to me than life itself. I would give up the whole world for you.” She then paused briefly before rephrasing her statement, her voice more determined and defiant. “I will give up the whole world for you…”
Abruptly, Miriam’s teeth were at his neck, and without hesitation she sank them into his flesh deeper than he thought possible. Her fangs radiated heat throughout his throat, quickly masking the physical pain, as the side of his face erupted in invisible flames that rapidly traveled inside his skull and down his chest.
He wasn’t surprised she was killing him. She was sparing him a much worse death, whether from the radiation or from the four demons who wanted to tear him apart. At least this way he could die in her arms.
He slowly reached his hand up to her horn, trying to grip it before his vision faded completely. However, just as he felt his fingertips reach the rough surface, the darkness consumed him, and the last thing he felt was his hand dropping lifelessly to his side.
❖ ❖ ❖
He was falling, falling quickly through an absolute emptiness.
He could hear her voice far in the distance, “If you kill him, you kill me! It’s already too late!” The voiced quickly faded away and suddenly unfamiliar red eyes appeared before him – they widened slightly, acknowledging him.
The stranger had heard her voice too, turning away from him to call back in an unknown language. In the far distance, far away from her voice, far away from the stranger, a glimmer of warmth shimmered in the great abyss – a tiny speck, in the vast nothingness.
The red eyes abruptly vanished, ascending from him, and then the small warmth appeared before him like an invisible flame. It flickered as if startled, and he reached out to comfort it. In response to his goodwill, it radiated gentleness, life, and hope, revealing it wasn’t as empty as it appeared.
But there was something at the edge of the flame,
a shadow tormenting it, a fear threatening to consume it. He looked more closely, suddenly falling into a rapidly widening void.
Quickly, it consumed him, and he saw that deep within it he could see everyone he loved. His father and mother were there, as well as Grayson, Riley, and Amelia…and Miriam.
Everyone was deep in the emptiness, falling much faster than him. He watched in horror as they began to disappear, disintegrating into the void.
“No!” He called out to them, but it was too late. He reached out and tried to pull them back with every fiber of his being.
Suddenly, the void shattered like a mirror, and people began falling from it. Thousands…no, millions of people. Then billions of people were falling, descending straight into a massive sphere of fire like a meteor shower.
As each one hit the surface, the flames disappeared, revealing shades of blue and green. Until, then he could see the Earth rather than the sphere of flames. He could sense that everyone he loved was there, safe and alive.
Unexpectedly, he felt the fear again. He turned to look behind him…to see nothing – the absence of everything. It was the void again. It was coming. He felt someone’s hand slip into his, intertwining their fingers together. But he couldn’t look away from the fear. It was coming, and there was no stopping it.
The hand gently tightened, squeezing, urging him to turn his head. A warmth began crawling up his arm, entering his chest and filling him within. He broke his gaze to look into her crimson eyes, and then he remembered. They were one. They would face it as one.
A deep resolution settled in his thoughts, and he felt its power rise from inside, beginning to explode like a volcano. Abruptly, he turned to face her, wrapping her in his embrace as the resolve overflowed. He tried to speak, to tell her how he felt, but he couldn’t. He felt her push into him, and suddenly their bodies and minds became one body, one mind.
The void encroached on them, surrounding them in fear, reaching out to destroy. He held up his fingers, their fingers, in response.
Snap.
The emptiness split into a thousand pieces, shattering like glass. A bright light pierced the gaps, consuming the void, ending the fear.
The light grew brighter, hotter. Too hot. It was burning him, from inside. It threatened to burst through his skin as it burned hotter and hotter. He tried to scream in pain, but there was only silence as he quietly burned alive.
Michael’s eyes flashed open as he felt fire course down his spine and erupt throughout his core. Immediately, he focused his eyes to see Miriam’s crimson gaze. But something was wrong. She was looking at him like she’d seen a ghost, as if she was seeing right through him. Her wings were still wrapped around them like a small cage, shielding them from the world.
He struggled to free himself from her grasp, to escape the flames, but her hold on him was absolute. Finally, he found his voice.
“Miriam.” It was barely a whisper, but her expression abruptly changed as her eyes focused on him. She was suddenly concerned, as he attempted to continue to speak. “Fire.” He tried saying. “I’m on fire.”
She gently shook her head in response. “I’m sorry, love. This part is exceptionally painful. You’ll have to endure it.”
Michael looked at her, confused. Which part? He wondered. The part where he was dying?
Suddenly he remembered what he had just been doing, so he reached back up to grip her horn firmly in his grasp. She tilted her head slightly to allow him to reach. But something was different this time. She hadn’t been looking at him before. She had been…
Michael focused on her mouth, noticing the red on lips. “Miriam…did you bite me?” He wasn’t sure why he found that confusing. Had he forgotten that she was helping him die a less painful death?
Surprisingly, she grinned at him. “Yes. It was very satisfying.”
He was still confused. “B-But…I’m not dead.”
She tilted her head, appearing just as confused as he was. “Did you think I was killing you?”
Michael struggled to concentrate on her words. The burning was threatening to distract him. “Y-Yes. I thought…it might be better…than the alternatives.”
Her expression was suddenly somber. “It was close, but ultimately you saved us both.”
“I did?” He didn’t understand.
She gently began caressing his cheek as she explained. “I bit you because you were about to die, but I’m not allowed to bite you…so they would have killed you, but you showed us…you showed us all…what was in your mind. It made them stop.”
Michael shook his head trying to rid his face of the flames, trying to focus on what she was saying. He glanced away to see that his four assassins had disappeared. It was just them now.
She gently helped him focus on her again by continuing to caress his cheek. His spine was throbbing. It felt like every nerve in his body was burning. “How?” He finally managed.
She bent down and gently placed her lips on his forehead, holding him tightly against herself. He could feel that his body was shaking, shivering as if he were cold. He let go of her horn and rested his hand against her bare stomach. He wasn’t sure if she had answered him, or if she was going to, but then he heard a familiar song fill his ears.
She was singing the lullaby that she had shared with him before, in that strange language. He tried to focus on it, forcing himself to not think about the flames coursing through him.
And then slowly, it became easier to concentrate on it. The fire was getting worse, but somehow he found his mind becoming sharper – clearer. He continued to listen to the lullaby, repeating over and over, until he finally began to hear two voices, mirrors of each other, one with his ears and one with his mind. Miriam had Michael’s face pressed against her neck, with her cheek resting on his hair, yet suddenly he could see her looking down at him. She was crying.
Please don’t die. Please don’t die. Please don’t die. She repeated over and over again, in a third voice, one that felt further away. She seemed so alone.
He could see her curled up, hugging her knees, completely alone as if he wasn’t even there. It was worse than he thought. It wasn’t clear yet if he would survive. He still smelled like death.
Moved by her grief, he reached out to touch her, gently running his fingertips against her soft skin.
“Oh!” Miriam abruptly exclaimed, pulling away to looking at him with her red eyes. “Michael…you can see me.”
He looked at her, only to realize he wasn’t looking at her – not with his eyes. He had closed his eyes and had yet to open them again. Rather, he was seeing her with his mind, and she could see him as well. Without moving, he drew near to her again, and gently touched the edge of her consciousness, wrapping her in his arms.
Hundreds of variations of emotions spilled over from her into him, including excitement, nervousness, endearment, love, desire, concern, fear – along with a multitude of intertwining combinations. In response, she quickly engulfed him in her embrace, both physically and mentally, blurring the line between them.
“It’s happening so fast,” she said tearfully. “It’s never happened this fast before.”
What is? He wondered silently.
To his surprise, she answered him. “Your mind has opened up. You can see me now, and I can finally see into you.”
At first, he didn’t understand, but then her thoughts showed him what she meant. He was reading her mind, and she was reading his. They all could – all demons.
And now he could too, because he was painfully becoming like her. Except his mind was opening faster than normal. A lot faster.
“Normally, it’s the last thing to happen,” she whispered. “But you’ve just started.”
Abruptly, his eyes popped open to look at her gaze both physically and mentally. “An hour?!” He exclaimed. It had only been an hour in what would be a two-day process. It had already felt like an eternity in hell, burning alive without death to follow.
Miriam nodded apologetically fo
r his suffering. She then leaned closer and kissed him passionately on the lips. “I love you,” she whispered. “I love you more than anything. I’m sorry I’ve caused you so much pain.”
At first, he thought she was apologizing for the flames, but then he saw what she was looking at in his thoughts – she was seeing the pain he had felt in his chest after meeting her. She could feel all the grief and sorrow she had caused him.
Miriam wasn’t apologizing for the flames, because the burning in his body was their only hope – a hope that was finally being realized. They could now be together without him dying from her very existence, assuming he survived long enough to see it through.
“Miriam,” he whispered, “am I actually on fire?” It sure feels like it.
She shook her head. “Based on what I’ve learned recently, it’s probably a chemical reaction. That’s why it feels like fire. The burning in normally unbearable for the first day, but then as the mind gets stronger it becomes easier to ignore it. I’m surprised you’re not screaming. I screamed the entire time.”
Unexpectedly, in response to her words, Michael saw Miriam as a human. She had only been seven years old when her father had found her almost fifteen hundred years ago and made her his daughter. That’s how it worked. That’s how they had children – they made them from humans.
Then, after the transformation, younger humans aged much more slowly – a thousand human years was like only seven to them. However, humans who were old when bitten reversed their physical appearance to that of their twenty-something year old self. But the practice was forbidden a few hundred years after Miriam had been bitten. No one was permitted to turn a human of any age anymore.
Why won’t you show me? He wondered. Why is it forbidden?
Was. She corrected, before giving him an allusive answer. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Demon Seer (Demon Demigods Book 1) Page 18