Demon Possession

by Kiersten Fay

  Ethanule’s eyes flashed with something inscrutable. “I told her that our people are at war,and they are depending on her.”

  “I can’t think,” Anya mumbled to his chest. “Ethanule wants to come with us.” She looked up at him with a mixture of terror and hope. “What do you think?”

  He wanted to tel her to tel this pirate to screw off. They could take the book and find someone else who could translate it. Demons, for one, were very good at deciphering languages of al types. He wanted to tel her she didn’t need Ethanule … for anything. But seeing that glimmer of hope in her eyes he said, “I think you should at least listen to what he has to say.” He took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, “Then if you want I wil kil him for you.”

  With a crooked smile Ethanule scoffed, “You could try demon.” But then he turned hopeful as Anya looked him over, preparing to make her choice.

  “Alright,” Is al she said.

  When they started ascending into the ship Cale asked, “Is it true what these Denaloids do to prisoners? I’ve heard some nasty stuff.” It was rumored that the Denaloids often sexual y abuse the criminals of their race, among other barbaric tortures such as castration.

  Ethanule replied simply, “Just be glad youareunder my protection.”

  Sebastian caught the gleam in Calic’s eye and knew what he was about to suggest. When Cale mentioned his plan to Ethanule, Ethanule answered sarcastical y, “My men would love apetproject.”

  A few minutes later Xandar was being hauled out of the ship and presented to Ethanule’s second-in-command.

  Sebastian noted that Anya watched, detached and distant. She hated the idea of someone suffering, even if they deserved it. Her kind heart would probably feel sorry for him later, but now she was in too much shock from Ethanule’s revelation to offer any kind or protest.

  Sonya was al for it. With pleasure—and artful precision—she cracked Xandar in the face with a heavy right hook. Sebastian knew that right hook wel .

  When sparing he would do everything to avoid it.

  As Xandar slumped in Cale’s and Aidan’s hold Ethanule eyedSonyawith renewed interest, brows raised. Sebastian sometimes forgot how tiny Sonya actual y was,and to anyone who didn’t know her it was shocking that such a smal creature could pack such a mean punch. Sonya gave Ethanule an arrogant wink and flicked her tail before going to stand beside Anya.

  The fact that Sebastian had been ferrying around a predator weighed heavily on his conscience. The number of victims under Xandar’s belt is unknown, but in Sebastian’s opinion one is one too many. Now Xandar begged for mercy, which was more than his victims had been al otted. The doors to the ship closed with a loud ominous sound, condemning Xandar to his fate.

  Inside, quick little Sonya already had a dagger to Ethanule’s throat, a hardness to her gaze. “What should we do with the pirate?” Ethanule was looking at her with a strange expression, if Sebastian didn’t know any better he’d say Ethanule was amused by Sonya.

  Anya replied first, “I think you should lock him up.” At that Ethanule’s jaw dropped, looking more shocked at Anya’s comment than the knife at his throat.

  “Sounds good to me, how about you guys?” Both Sebastian and Cale nodded. It was safer to lock him up. They al needed to concentrate on steering clear of theExtarga, and a pirate running around the ship would be a distraction.In fact, it might be best if he remained in confinement indefinitely. Ethanule could do his translating just as wel from behind bars.

  When Sonya began guiding him down the hal Anya cal ed out. “In sickbay please.” The same place she’d been kept, knowing it was more comfortable than the cel s where Xandar had beenincarcerated. Anya with a heart of gold, Cale rol ed his eyes. Sonya looked to Sebastian for confirmation.

  Sebastian nodded, then turned back to see Anya trudging in the opposite direction, head down as though lost in thought, and most likely she was.

  Catching up to her,Sebastian said, “I need to take command now and get us to a safe place. Are you going to be okay?” He wanted more than anything to stay with her, and for her to want him to stay with her.

  “I’l be fine.” Her tone said the opposite. Do you mind if I go lie down in your bed for a while?

  He felt a twinge of satisfaction that she would prefer his bed above her own. “I wouldn’t mind.In factI’d like it if you would stay with me, in my room, from now on. Think of it as your own.” He waited, growing a little nervous when she said nothing. He mused, waiting for an answer from this tiny creature made him more nervous than anything that came before.

  Final y, “I’d like that too.” Then she paused and with an impish grin said. “Your room has a better view.”

  Two days had passed and Anya stil hadn’t visited Ethanule. She’d gone just about everywhere but sickbay, if that was truly where Sonya had taken him.

  She’d been avoiding him and the whole subject of himaltogether. Sonya asked her only one question. “So.” She said. “What do you think?” Anya had only shrugged in response while continuing to take drink orders.

  There seemed to be a mutual consensus among the crew who’d been present on the asteroid to let Anya culminate. Marik asked her questions because he hadn’t been there, but his questions were more along the lines of her state of mind and how she was feeling. His concern gave her insight into what it might have been like to have a big brother.

  Would a big brother have tried to rescue her when her father hadn’t?

  Cale only wanted to know about when she’s struck Ethanule with the book,and how quickly he went down. Cale could be single minded, if it wasn’t women on his mind,it was violence.

  Sebastian hadn’t even brought it up. Each night he would kiss her and hold her, make her feel safe and warm. He wasn’t happy about Ethanule’s presence on the ship, she could tel . But she also knew he was itching for answers almost as bad as she was. She was just afraid what those answers might be. After al this time wondering where she was from, and what came to be of her people …nowshe was afraid to know.

  The book had been brought to Sebastian’s room, he kept insisting she cal ittheirroom but it didn’t feel right yet. The book now sat on the coffee table …

  unopened and neglected. Anya would stare at it sometimes, like right now, feeling a flood of contradictory emotions. Ethanule had said her people were at war and needed her help. Was she being selfish by ignoring the possibility that he was tel ing the truth? But honestly, what couldshedo about it?

  “Blow up a room ful of electronics.” She said dul y.

  And maybe that was enough. She had no knowledge, no prior experience with war. Had no idea what to expect or how to proceed. The demons did, along with much of the crew, but she wouldn’t ask them to get involved. It wasn’t their responsibility.But is it hers?

  Furthermore, if Ethanule was tel ing the truth, how could her father have had the insight to plant Ethanule in her path, in the right place at the right time?

  Had he somehow set up the contract between the Serakians and Sebastian? And just how much did he know about where she’d been for two-hundred-andsome-odd years.

  She was clueless and she knew it. She needed answers. Snatching up the book she made her way toward the one man who could give them to her.

  Anya slammed the book down on a smal table just outside of Ethanule’s cel . She thought his cel would have included the plush pil ow and blanket that she was al otted,but he had none. She felt a twinge of irritation at that,along with an even stronger sense of sentimentality from the memory.

  Ethanule’s face lit up when he saw her. Hardening her features she demanded, “tel me everything.”

  He tsked. “How can you expect me to remember anything under these harsh conditions?”

  “These conditions are hardly harsh and you know it.”

  “It is lacking,” he replied, “Compared to what I had your cel furnished with? Which I’d say was more like a bed and breakfast.”

  She had to admit, he had her there. “I’
m not in charge here. I have no say in how you’re treated so perhaps you should have taken more care of the demons,rather than me.”

  “Oh, but you do have a say. Otherwise, I suspect I’d be in a much more dingy cel , without the comforting companionship of the good doctor over there.”

  From his desk Doctor Oshwald humphed, not bothering to look up from his electronic notepad.

  “At least that’s what the female demon was muttering when she was manhandling me.”

  “Her name is Sonya, and in any case there’s nothing I can do about it now, you may be in here for a while,so you’d better start talking.”

  “You haven’t been eager for information thus far. I’ve been feeling pretty neglected actual y.” When Anya rol ed her eyes he grew serious. “Look, I’ve risked my life and spent a lot of resources, time, and dignity, lowering myself to a common pirate, to get myself in a position to find you. I was a soldier in the king’s elite army before I was sent on this mission. Do you think it was easy to become a high-ranking leader within the ranks of an entirely different race of people? And now that I’ve left them I can never go back and claim the leadership I had worked three hundred-fifty years to acquire, it has already been passed on to my second. I gave it up to fol ow you.”

  “Why! Why go through al that trouble?”

  “Because you are the daughter of the king, third in line to the throne.”

  Anya blinked twice. Breath left her, words left her.It couldn’t be. “What?” Was al she could mouth.

  “Over four hundred years ago your father sent you and your two sisters away, just beforethegreat conflict began. A conflict that is stil under way. Our planet has been under siege since you’ve been gone.”

  Stunned, “I’m only two-hundred years old. You have the wrong person.” She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed by that.

  “With one-hundred percent certainty I can guarantee, you are who I say you are.”

  She shook her head, “How can you be sure?” Was it possible that she’d lost more time on The Hel Ship than she’d original y thought? How long had Darius kept her unconscious while he had her hooked up to the ship? It couldn’t have been over half her life … Could it?

  “The book,” Ethanule interrupted her thoughts. “Have you not tried to open the book?” With her eyes vacantly staring at nothing, she shook her head. He continued, “That wil prove it. Only the three daughters of the king wil be able to open it.”

  Anya stared at the book with hesitation. It was mysterious and dark and threatened to turn her world upside down … again. “How do you know any of this?” She asked mindlessly.

  “It’s complicated.”

  She narrowed her gaze. “Yes, you’ve said that before. I think you and I both have time for a complicated story.”

  “And I want my freedom.”

  “I’ve told you, there is nothing I can do …”

  “Bul shit.” He crossed his arms and clamped his mouth shut, signaling that he was done talking.

  She sighed. It was obvious she’d get nothing more out of him, and she wasn’t ready to test out his book theory. Weather she didn’twantto know the truth, or she wanted to hold on to a bit of fantasy just little longer, she wasn’t sure. Lifting the book firmly in her arms she turned for the door, pausing at the threshold to ask, “At least tel me the name of our people.”

  He studied her for a moment. “You truly don’t remember?”

  “No.” A mixture of sorrow and shame coated her voice.

  “We are Faieara.”

  Chapter 22

  Faieara he’d said—Fai-ear-ra with a rol of the tongue on the last few syl ables. Anya tested out the word as she made her way to the pub, book in hand.

  She was flooded with a strange feeling at final y being able to associate a name with her people. It was sort of a half-empty-half-ful feeling. She now had a smal part of a very large puzzle.

  Anya’s plight must have been written al over her face for everyone to see because when she entered the pub Sonya took one look at her and started mixing one of her unique concoctions,and motioning her forward to an empty bar stool. Anya took the empty seat, setting the book down beside her, and lifted the pink liquid fil ed glass to her lips. The flavor was sweet and went smoothly down as she gulped.

  “Bad day?” Sonya mused when Anya set the empty glass back on the bar. She immediately began refil ing it.

  “I’m a princess.” Anya blurted.

  Sonya raised an eyebrow at that. “Is that so? It’s not a bad thing to be I guess. Unless,” Her eyes twinkled with amusement. “Do they sacrifice princess where you’re from?” Anya was counting on Sonya to lighten her mood with her flippant personality but when the question made Anya think a little longer than she should have Sonya said in a more serious tone, “No … Do they?”

  Anya shrugged. “I don’t know. Al I’ve learned so far is that my people are cal ed Faieara, they may be involved in a war that has spanned four hundred years or more, my Father sent me, my mother, and apparently two of my sisters away, to avoid capture. And oh yeah, did I mention I might be over four hundred years old, if what Ethanule says is even remotely true, which I don’t know for sure. And somehow he thinks, at least I believe he thinks that I amsomehowcapable of helping our people.” She tapped a finger over her temple, “Did I leave anything out?”

  “Oookay. Take a breath, everything wil be fine.” Sonya was looking at her like she was crazy. “What about the book, what does it say in there?”

  Slumping her shoulders, “I haven’t opened it.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because only three people in the world can open that book, according to Ethanule, and if it does open for me then … wel that makes everything real.

  And if it doesn’t open …?” She didn’t finish her sentence. What exactly would it mean if it didn’t open for her? She would stil be a Faieara. Ethanule was definitely one of her people. She’d known it on some level the moment she was close enough to feel his energy, she just hadn’t recognized it until he’d thrown the obvious in her face. But she wouldn’t be a princess … with a father. A father who’d sent her to The Hel Ship and left her there for possibly four-hundred years.

  Sonya wore a mask of sympathy but her words were cogent, “Either you are who he says you are,or you’re not. Whatever you find out, we’re stil here for you.”

  Anya’s lips thinned into a half smile. “Thanks. It’s just, I’m so close to finding out who I am, final y. But what if he’s wrong?”

  With a crooked smile Sonya replied, “I don’t know princess, what if?”

  “Princess?” Cale appeared from behind her.

  “That’s what the pirate told her she is.”

  “And you’re going to listen to that schmuck?” Cale lifted the book off its stool, placed it on the bar, and took the seat for himself. Then he began fumbling with it. “Wel ? What’s inside this thing that’s so important we had to fly it al the way across the universe in order to find out that it belongs to Anya?”

  Anya opened her mouth to answer but Sonya answered for her, “She hasn’t opened it yet.”

  “Why not?”

  Anya paused,mid shrug when an interesting thought cameto her. “Why don’t you try to open it?” If Cale was able to open it, then everything Ethanule claimed would be in question.

  “Fine.” He said and began pul ing at the book. Anya took a sip of her drink while she watched. “There doesn’t seem to be any kind of lock on it, just this flap that won’t budge.” He wedged it between his legs, trying to pry the cover apart. A vein bulged in his forehead. “Feels like it’s glued shut. If we traveled al the way here for this, then someone is going to pay.”

  “Sonya, why don’t you try?” Anya suggested.

  Sonya nodded, reaching for the book. Dejected,Cale handed it over the bar, where Sonya too began grappling with the cover. Atfirstglance it looked as though the flap was just resting against the book, but not even a corner of it had moved for t
hem.

  Sonya set it on the bar in front of Anya. “Now you try.”

  Anya hesitantly lifted her hand over the flap. At first touch a tiny invisible shockwave exploded, with the book at the center of it, a smal jolt smashed into Anya. Both Cale and Sonya jumped at the feel of it. Anya’s body began to prickle with the feel of magic. That was the only word she could use to describe it.Magic. It was utterly foreign and vastly familiar at the same time. It pulsed through her body like a living thing.

  When she began to pul , the leather effortlessly peeled away, it was as easy as separating two dul magnets. She could feel the resistance, as though the flap wanted to return to its rightful place but it easily relented under her touch. A comforting vibration rol ed through her arm and down her spine, like a warm embrace.

  Suddenly Anya found herself sitting at the base of a tree, at the same time she knew herself to be in Sonya’s pub. The trunk was the larger than the length of the bar, larger by two at least. Great roots rose up from the ground around her. Fresh cool air fil ed her lungs, damp from a recent rainfal . The ground under her was littered with wet leaves, twigs, and mud. The soft sounds of water dripping from one leaf to another surrounded her. In the bril iant blue sky two suns sparkled down through the forest canopy above. One sun was large and white in color, and the other was slightly smal er,with a yel ow hue. In the distance she could hear the infectious laughter of two female children. Anya covered her own snickers with two hands as she crouched in her hiding spot.

  Gasping, Anya dropped the flap of the book and the vision disappeared. “My gods.” She whispered.

  Cale grabbed at the book. “Why did you drop it? It was opening.” He pul ed at the flap but once again the book would not open.

  Sonya seemed to be more observant because she asked, “What happened?”

  “I saw my home. I … I real y do have sisters. I remembered we were playing a game. I was so happy.”