Daimonion (The Apocalypse Book 1)

by J. P. Jackson

  “What are you doing in my apartment? And where did you find him?” I said, irritated.

  The Kasadya inspected me with a long uncomfortable stare.

  It felt like his gaze could burrow holes into my brain. He shifted his head to one side as he spoke at me. “I can see you do not understand. Yes, clearly you are confused; you are ignorant. Everything I see shows us all, most of us, perhaps just us here now, dead within a week, unless we change what is happening.”

  “One week?”

  It was almost impossible to comprehend a Kasadya. Their clairvoyance gave them the ability to see everything around them in timelines, possibilities. They spoke of the here-and-now but also the what-could-be.

  Deciphering their speech was a chore, like trying to sleuth out the Sphinx’s riddles.

  The Kasadya flittered closer to me. His black tailored shirt was so tight I could count each one of his ribs. The silk tie remained perfectly still as he moved, the tie’s tail disappeared behind a black crushed-velvet vest. The demon’s movements were ethereal as he moved without a sound towards me.

  “Yes, there are more—more than just us. Several, in fact, a horde. A band who are also infected. The Master’s plan is not what you believe it to be. And your—” The Kasadya paused, then shifted his head to the other side. “Your obsession—the one who is here… no, he is not here, not yet. He is the cause. Others will need him. He will need others. He is not complete—and you will lose him. He will destroy everything, including you. But what is certain is that we all die within the week unless we institute changes. These must be extracted,” he said, pointing at his gut with long bony fingers.

  Hemming made some strange half-human noises.

  “What did you do to him?”

  “I did nothing, and everything. I watched. He fed—devoured the human in every instance I watched. I watched some more. He shifted to human and then fell to the ground and slept.”

  “Wait, Hemming fed? On what? What did he eat?” I asked with growing alarm.

  “A human male, adult.” The statement was matter-of-fact. It had no emotion attached to it.

  “Oh, Hemming.” My stomach sank with disappointment and regret, knowing Hemming would berate himself for the wolf’s actions.

  Hemming’s eyelids fluttered, but he was still unconscious.

  I grabbed the Watcher by his overly fancy and tightly fitted outfit and pulled him in close. The muscles in his chest stiffened as I spoke. “You will say nothing to him about that, or I will kill you here and now.” I stared at Jenae. “And that, young lady, goes for you too. Nothing. You will say nothing to him about what you just heard.”

  Jenae’s eyes were large and round, still full of tears, mascara running down her cheeks. She nodded.

  Hemming would never take another human life unless forced into doing so. It just wasn’t something he would have done. But then, anyone under Master’s control did things they wouldn’t have normally. We did them to survive.

  Hemming had always gone to extra lengths to ensure that his food was always four-legged, and never another human. The thought of cannibalization would have destroyed him or sent him out drinking again. I needed Hemming to concentrate on being present, sober, and capable when his pods hatched. I would have enough to do once Alyx emerged; I couldn’t risk having Hemming out on a bender.

  I released the Watcher. His gaze darted back and forth, determining which outcome would be the best of all the possible timelines.

  Hemming groaned loudly. “What the Hell…” he said in a shaky voice, and his eyelids slowly peeled open.

  “Dati? Oh man, am I in your poorly decorated apartment?” Hemming’s eyes focused and looked around at the marred walls. “I’m naked again, aren’t I? Dammit.” He hunched over, attempting to hide himself and spotted the Watcher demon. “Who’s the human-sized voodoo doll?”

  “Just take it easy. Looks like you’ve had a rough couple of days,” I said. “Jenae, go get him a blanket.”

  She stared at me, dazed and unmoving.

  “Now, please,” I said with emphasis. She disappeared down the hall.

  Hemming grabbed one of the cushions from the back of the couch to cover his midsection. He sat upright, one hand holding his head.

  I turned to the Kasadya. “What do you see?”

  “Death.” The word fell from his lips with gravity. The demon’s eyes were glassy. His head tilted as his gaze narrowed, squinting at something no one else in the room saw. I assumed he watched another timeline play out.

  “Specifics please?” I growled. I was starting to lose my cool.

  The Watcher eyed me suspiciously, weighing his options, and cautiously continued. “I don’t know what else I can—or should—have said that will make any difference.”

  “How about how we die?”

  “That depends. Which scenario of the fifteen possibilities I can currently see would you like me to recall? Remember every time you speak, those likelihoods change.”

  I sighed. This was going nowhere.

  Jenae reappeared and tossed the blanket at Hemming, being ever so careful not to look at him, obviously embarrassed by his nudity.

  “Alright, screw it. What are you proposing? We can’t just knife ourselves and remove these … What exactly are they anyways? Minions? Parasites?” I said. A part of me hoped that was exactly what we needed to do.

  The Watcher frowned. “No, that won’t—can’t… they will not let that happen. Instead we must, should consider seeing the only being I know who can—will remove this infection without doing irreparable damage to us.”

  “Who? What is this being?” I demanded.

  “She is an Elementalist. But she does not live close. It is, and will be, a long journey to see her, and there will be a cost, of course.”

  “Of course,” I said, deflated. “How long a journey, exactly?” If this journey was going to take a month, only to find out that this Elementalist wouldn’t do anything for us, we would have far less time to deal with the bugs living inside of us.

  “Roughly fifteen hours northwest of here, unless we wait too long. Then the snow happens, which will extend the amount of time required to get to her,” the Watcher said. He studied Jenae very carefully. “You, girl, you almost lost one today, but you held it back. And it is angry and seeks its retribution against you.” He pointed at Jenae’s belly accusingly.

  “What?” I said. “What happened today, exactly?”

  “I tried to tell you! You didn’t listen,” Jenae spouted, somewhat indignant.

  “We were rudely interrupted,” I said, staring at the Watcher as my lips curled up with distaste. I returned my glare to Jenae. “Again, tell me!”

  I had lost almost any patience I might have once had.

  She was still upset, and her pretty eyes were stained with tears. Her face was marred with ruined makeup and scorch marks.

  She started with a quivering voice, “I left here and went to my old school. Meaghan was there, and she tormented me like she has every single day of my whole goddamn life. I accidentally lit her on fire, sort of.”

  “You did what? In plain sight of everyone? Are you insane?”

  “It wasn’t in front of everyone, and besides there’s nothing really left of her.”

  “But, child, you haven’t…you need to tell the rest of the story,” the Kasadya offered up. “The silver spine came out of your stomach.”

  Jenae looked a little sheepish. “Um, yeah, that happened too.”

  “What does he mean? Did you lose a bug?” I asked.

  “No, it tried to come out, but there was no way I was going to let that bitch Meaghan become like me! I wasn’t going to look after her.”

  “But none of us have been able to suppress these things.” I considered quickly how I would have prevented this from happening to Alyx. “They do their own thing, so how did you do it?” I demanded to know.

  “I don’t know how!” Jenae’s flung her arms up. “I could feel a horrible pain in my midse
ction, and then I was so angry that everything else became I blur. I don’t know what I did.” More tears streamed down her face, and her wide eyes revealed that she was scared.

  “I see what did and should have happened. It was the stone.” The Kasadya offered up a hand towards his own neck, indicating Jenae’s necklace.

  I stared at the pendant and walked over to Jenae, inspecting its strange rough cuts and eerie dark shade of sunrise. Reaching out, I tried to grab the stone to study it closer.

  As my hand went up, the stone glowed in response. With my fingers almost touching the rock, the stone erupted in bright light that bathed Jenae but burnt my fingertips.

  So the stone had protected Jenae, just like the Shishi dogs, which were currently sitting at the entrance to the living room, watching her intently.

  “Nice,” I said, blowing on my fingers. “Where’d you get that?”

  “Mirabelle’s house.” She turned her head away, unable to look at me.

  “I see. Well, I think that’s probably the smartest thing you’ve stolen. That stone protected you, and I imagine will continue to do so as long as you keep it on.”

  Jenae retreated back a few steps from me and pretended to pick lint off of her sleeve.

  I gave up with Jenae. There was no controlling her.

  I sighed to the group. “So, do we trust this and agree to go see this Elementalist?”

  “Trust me,” the Kasadya said with pure clarity. His jet-black eyes were dead and completely fixed on me. “Your impatience and anger is understood, but it will also be the end of you.”

  “Is that a threat, Kasadya?” I snarled, and the heat radiating from my eyes indicated they were glowing.

  “Simply an observation that each potential destination I see right now ends with your anger,” he said darkly. “Now isn’t the time for this. You have other concerning events that are about to occur…”

  Hemming, Jenae, and I stood there, staring at the Kasadya.

  There was a dead stillness. No one said a thing.

  “And?” I said impatiently. “What is going to occur?”

  “Wait.”

  An audible rip ended his last word.

  “Now,” the dark Watcher flicked his head down the hallway.

  That same ripping sound had occurred only a day before.

  “I will return in eight days. We will leave then.” The Kasadya turned and seemingly floated towards the outer wall of the apartment, and just before he hit it, he drew a symbol in the air.

  The mark grew in size and shimmered. The air around it rippled in response. The Kasadya stepped into the hex symbol and disappeared.

  The rest of us watched in shocked silence. I’d never seen any demon-kind do that before.

  Another rip punctuated the room, followed by a wet squish like thick liquid hitting the floor.

  “Hemming,” I said without turning around, “they’re opening.”

  Emergence

  DATI

  The velvet pods had split open at one end.

  The wet contents from inside gushed onto the floor. The rancid smell in the room made it difficult to be present, but worse yet was the sight of a monstrous being coloured the same grey flesh tone as Hemming’s wolf. Its spine was covered in sparse bristly black hair. It lay on the floor, quivering in the middle of the sticky black puddle. The demon was certainly no wolf.

  The pod collapsed, having released the fiend, who slowly started to stir. It rolled to one side and, with shaky unsure muscles, righted itself. Four massive paws, each displaying thick sharpened claws held the being upright. It was hunched and the body was thick with muscle.

  The other pod squelched open. A thin limb stuck out, unresponsive and unmoving.

  “Geez, Hemming,” I said. Hemming glared at me and motioned to be quiet. The beast responded to my voice and swung its enormous head towards us.

  Jenae who had followed us rather quietly into the room, took a hesitant step towards the monster. She was transfixed by the massive creature.

  Sharp teeth protruded from the elongated muzzle that ended with a large leathery nose. A ring of straggly hair surrounded the head and petered out as it ran down the neck and over the creature’s breast. Two rounded ears rotated, attempting to hone in on the position of my voice and Jenae’s steps. Its obsidian eyes, apparently unable to focus, blinked several times. It sniffed the air as one massive paw thumped towards us.

  Jenae took another step closer.

  Hemming hissed at her in warning. Jenae spun around quickly to face us. Her eyes were white as snow. She raised one hand, palm out, towards us.

  An invisible force pushed us up against the bedroom wall, pinning both Hemming and me.

  The audible thud of our bodies hitting the wall made the monster’s head shift towards us. A guttural snarl reverberated in the room as its lip pulled back, exposing more sharp teeth.

  Jenae returned her focus to the monster, held out her hand, palm exposed, and edged in closer.

  The creature breached the gap between the two and put its muzzle in Jenae’s open hand. Jenae patted the side of the beast’s head.

  Without warning, it convulsed and dropped to the floor.

  The three of us were stunned to silence as muscles contracted and seized.

  Bones cracked as they began shifting internal structures. And for the first time, the creature experienced the process of becoming human from demon. It sounded very painful.

  Within a minute, a young pink-fleshed male lay naked before Jenae, covered in patches with the sticky tar that had been in the pod.

  Jenae crouched down and pulled the massive body onto her lap, cradling the man. She lifted up his head, pushed the hair out of his face, and hugged him as he slowly came around.

  The second creature still struggled to remove itself from its casing.

  Hemming moved over to the second pod, reached in through the slit that had opened at one end, grabbed hold of the internal contents, and with strained muscles, wrenched the monster towards him.

  I instantly recognized the animal.

  It was gangly and leggy, the face flattened and elongated, but again, the skin was taut over the muscles. Unlike the first animal, this beast appeared incomplete. There were places where the stark white of bone could be seen. Ligaments were visible attaching one bone to another, some disappeared under flesh. Each of the four legs were almost total bone past the knee, but the limbs ended in large black hooves.

  It was a horse.

  Hemming, covered in rot, retreated and let the stallion attempt to stand up on its own.

  I whispered carefully, “What was the first one?”

  “Bear,” said Hemming. “Jenae, you’re lucky he didn’t rip you apart.”

  “Caleb wouldn’t have done that. Not to me.”

  “Caleb? You’ve named him?”

  “No.” She sneered at me with contempt. “He told me his name.”

  “When? I didn’t hear anything,” I said.

  She just stared at me with an expression that implied she hid something. That she had just said something she shouldn’t have.

  I ignored her and turned to Hemming. “A horse and a bear… Isn’t that sort of an odd combination? I mean, how much ferocity does a Shape-Shifter have when they turn into a horse?”

  The bear, I understood. The claws on it alone would disembowel anyone, not to mention the amount of inherent strength an ursine creature could summon.

  The horse still struggled to maintain its composure on wobbly legs when it made a strange strangled noise, like it was in pain. Hemming had a concerned expression on his face.

  “He hasn’t started to morph back to human yet. That’s not good.” Hemming had already lost one pod from a failed morph. He couldn’t afford to lose another.

  “What’s the risk it won’t make it at this point?” I asked, not knowing anything about how Shape-Shifters were born.

  “Low, actually. You’re right too. I’ve never heard of a Shape-Shifting man-horse. What the Hell
do you do with that?” But as soon as Hemming said it, his eyebrows furrowed. He had come up with something.

  The horse dropped onto its front knees and whinnied a second time. The muscles along its back were convulsing and rearranging. It appeared as if it was going to morph into human form, but then tissue started to grow.

  “Oh, wow, that’s why,” Hemming said. I gave him an inquisitive glance, and he said, “It’s not done. Look, it’s not just a horse.”

  The shoulders of the horse changed, growing bones in a very familiar form. Within seconds, a full skeletal frame for wings had emerged. Tissue crept across the bones, spreading outwards and filling the structure until there were massive leathery wings.

  “That makes the next step unbelievably more difficult,” Hemming stated, with an exasperated face.

  “The next step?”

  “In order to solidify the shift, to engrain the body’s memory of the beast inside, their first meal will have to be the animal they morph into. They have to eat the whole beast. A horse and a bear would not pose that much of a challenge, but I’m fairly certain that I haven’t come across a horse with—what would you call those? Bat wings? That’s not going to be available at the first fast food joint we drive up to.” Hemming groaned. “We will have to leave within the hour as they’ll be hungry.”

  “Oh.” My eyebrows rose in surprise. “Yeah, I’m not sure what to tell you. Pretty sure I’ve never seen one of those before either.” I pointed to the horse. It was finally complete and pawed the floor with its hoof, leaving deep grooves in the wooden planks.

  “Can we borrow some clothes?” Hemming had a blanket wrapped around his waist. Caleb was still completely naked, which Jenae did not find embarrassing at all, oddly.

  A thud sounded behind us as the horse dropped to the floor, gradually morphing back into a man.

  “And your bathroom. We’ll need to use your bathroom too,” Hemming pinched his nose and fanned his face. The stench was pretty strong in the room.

  I groaned, but it wasn’t like I could very well tell them no.

  “Yes, go ahead.” I pointed in the general direction of the master bedroom where they would find everything they needed.