by K J Carr
“Okay, time to debrief. Please sit.” I waved at my couch and I sat down in a recliner that faced my TV. It was comfortable and well worn, and I knew I would need everything I had to keep my emotions in check. I curled up on the chair, tucking my feet under the bottom of my robe.
Malak and Enoch looked at each other. It looked like they were silently communicating. I waited them out patiently, enjoying my coffee while they decided. Finally, Malak sat on the far end of the couch, while Enoch sat in the matching chair across from him. Time to start.
“Okay, boys, so I was leaving the hospital when some dark daemon….” I trailed off and looked at Malak.
“Achilah.”
“Yes, him, stopped me and then kidnapped me. He had this superpower type breath that puts one to sleep or something. Strange kind of superpower to have, but it definitely was effective.” I stopped to take a sip.
“He has the power to exhale a sleep potion. He can also emit a poison that will kill you in seconds.” Enoch added to the conversation.
“Well, damn.” I paused, considering that. “I guess I am glad he didn’t do that. He must not have wanted me dead.” I took a deep breath and continued. “Anyway, when I woke up, I was in this glass-like box. All I could see were these swirling colors. It just hung in the middle of nowhere.”
The two men exchanged a startled look but didn’t say anything, so I continued.
“Once I figured out it was a room or a box, I started tapping on the walls.” I stopped, remembering that I had used my shoes and socks for the boundaries. And, that meant I had left a good pair of sneakers there. Damn. “Note to self: buy a new set of sneakers to replace the ones left in the glass box.”
“Nica.” I didn’t even have to glance at him to know Malak was rolling his eyes.
“Sorry, Malak, but they were my favorite pair of shoes I had left there.” I continued. “I found a sound difference by tapping all the walls and then discovered by accident my hand would go through the wall in one particular place. Knowing that, I pushed myself through to the hallway.”
So, I left out how long that took me and how hard it was. Shoot me. I am not sure it was at all important, in any case. From the way they both were looking at me, though, I figured getting out of that room was surprising enough. Let them stay in awe of my powers. Perhaps it would allow me to keep that Enoch bloke from pushing me around too much.
“When I left the room, I was in this dark hallway, which then started splitting into two or more other hallways. I was going to just randomly take different ones, based on my gut feeling, but figured out quickly that I would get seriously lost. I hadn’t seen very many daemons, though, so that was a good thing. Then I found T’Koran. And he was able to talk to me.”
“How?” Malak asked, obviously curious.
“How?” This startled me. I raised one eyebrow inquiringly.
“Yes, how? Daemons have their own language. It is not English. For that matter, how does T’Koran understand you?” This came from Enoch. He was frowning.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “T’Koran talks to my mind. I guess I don’t need to talk to him out loud, but I do. He always answers here.” I pointed at my head. “It all sounds like English to me, so I don’t know about another language.”
At this point, I began to realize this was not quite what they would have expected.
“Telepathy?” Enoch looked at Malak.
“I haven’t heard him talk.” Malak looked skeptical.
“Doesn’t mean he can’t.” I glanced over to the dishes and I could see the little daemon reach out and snatch a carrot off the plate.
“T’Koran, can you please come over here?” I watched the two men look around and I frowned. Why couldn’t they see or sense him?
I am not letting them see me. T’Koran sounded stubborn. These Tennins have hurt others of my kind in the past, carelessly kicking and stepping on us.
“Really? Do you know if these two were ones that hurt you?” I wanted to glare at them, but I needed to be sure.
No, I have not seen that one before. T’Koran pointed, mentally, at Malak. And that one only from a distance. That was for Enoch.
“Do you trust me, little one? Come out over here and I will protect you.” I sighed.
I watched him scamper around to my chair and then climb up, but then noticed that neither Tennin appeared to see him. Looking down, I studied the little daemon.
“They cannot see you, can they?”
Not if I don’t wish them to. T’Koran was smug.
“Well, this won’t work unless they can see that you are here. Please appear so they can see.”
The Chlarm daemon studied me. I wasn’t sure he would turn off his invisibility cloak off, so to speak, but then I heard a slight noise from Malak. Enoch had his hand over his mouth, silently studying us.
“I have seen those daemons running around.” Enoch finally stated.
“They are considered the lowest of the low, I guess, or so T’Koran has explained to me. And yet, they know all the passageways where I was, they can talk to me – well, he is able to talk to me, and I guess he can tell me what I can or cannot do, in terms of powers.”
Enoch sat up straight in hearing that. “They can tell you about powers?”
I looked at him steadily. “T’Koran told me that I could teleport and explained somewhat how to do it. He also said that he saw other powers. Well, he called them skills.”
“You are developing powers.” That wasn’t a question, but he acted doubtful.
T’Koran nodded at the same time I answered. “It appears so.”
Malak looked over at Enoch. “I wonder if others have as well at this point.”
“We have never seen anyone do things like this.” Enoch was adamant.
“You also don’t make sure daemons don’t attack those who decide not to transition.” I retorted. “I really don’t think you know much about Transitioners in general, based on my experience.”
Both men looked at me in surprise. Malak’s face quickly changed to worry, but Enoch just looked pensive.
“You may be correct in that assumption, Nica.” He drawled.
Point to me. “He mentioned that I am not human, or at least strictly human, anymore.” I continued.
That seemed to stun both men. They looked at each other for a minute, before turning back towards me.
Enoch studied me for a moment longer. He sighed and got up. “I need to discuss this with others. This is all new information we never had before. This will probably change how we approach Transitioners.”
He moved towards my door and then stopped. “T’Koran, welcome to earth. No one here that is associated with me or my teams will intentionally hurt you as long as you don’t hurt us or innocent humans.”
T’Koran stood on my lap and bowed to him, his actions elegant.
“Interesting.” Enoch smiled, turned and disappeared between one step and the next.
“I don’t think I will get used to that disappearing crap.” I groused. T’Koran jumped down off my lap and went to finish his meal.
Stomach grumbling, I got up and went into the kitchen. I turned and peeked back out of the doorway, looking for Malak.
“What day is it?”
“What?” He was obviously deep in thought.
I stepped back into the living room. “What day is it?”
“Wednesday.”
“Damn it! Somehow, I lost a day? What will my boss think?” I whirled back around to look for a clock. Ten a.m.! Double damn!
I rushed for the stairs, but Malak intercepted me. “Calm down, Nica. You asked for the week off because Kaitie was in the hospital with a brain tumor. Your boss was more than willing to give it.”
“Whew! Wait! Kaitie! She must be upset I didn’t come to see her yesterday!”
“Shhhhh!” Malak pulled me into his arms, rubbing my back, while I tried to push away. “Please stop, Nica. Kaitie went into surgery early yesterday. She slept most of the day, afte
rward. She didn’t even know you were missing.”
I blinked up at him, tears forming in my eyes. “Surgery?”
“Yes.” He smiled down at me, cradling my face with one of his hands. His thumb wiped the tears that had fallen down my cheek. “They think they got the whole tumor. It was small and not in too difficult of a place to get to. Routine, I think they called it. She still needs to do chemo, but it doesn’t look like it was as bad as they originally feared.”
I went limp, my head resting on his chest. That was good news. I stood there a moment, soaking up his strength. It felt good not always having to be the strong one. Malak rubbed my back slowly, offering comfort. He tucked his head near my neck, breathing in deeply.
Finally, I stood up, pushing away. Malak let me go. “I am going to go get dressed. I need to go to see her.”
“Okay.” He stepped away. “I will make you some tea and a breakfast sandwich for you to eat on the way.”
I went halfway up the stairs before stopping. I slapped my forehead and turned around. “My car! It’s at the hospital!”
Malak yelled from the kitchen. “Nope! I got it last night while you were sleeping.”
“Thank you!” I turned and almost skipped up the rest of the stairs. I wondered if the hospital would allow T’Koran to come in and see Kaitie. And if so, what she would think about him.
Chapter 13
“Hey, Kaitie.” My voice was soft. I hated seeing her in a bed like this, with all these wires and tubes and machines surrounding her, but I also wanted her well again.
“Hey, Nica.” The tiny lump in the bed opened her eyes, smiling at me.
I pulled up a chair so that I could sit next to the bed, taking her hand. “So, any cute doctors or nurses here?”
She laughed. It wasn’t her usual belly laugh. In fact, it was barely a chuckle, but I was happy to hear even that. “I have been a tad distracted lately, babe,” she retorted.
“Yeah, I suspect so. Marcus been here yet?” I looked around and noticed a couple of vases of flowers near her bed.
Kaitie found the remote and lifted the bed up so that she was more in a sitting position. “Not yet today. He said he had to work the day shift and would be here around dinner time.”
“Great.” I never kept things from Kaitie before, but I just didn’t know how I could explain daemons, the kidnapping, or T’Koran to her. Or to Marcus. Not typical stuff at all.
Kaitie grinned at me. “I see that Malak is still hanging around. I think someone likes you!”
I blushed and rubbed my mouth. “You have no idea.” I shook my head. I wondered if others had such problems. Of course, they probably just made their decision, gave their answer, and went on with their lives until it was time to transition. I just couldn’t do things the simple way.
“How do you feel about it?” Oops, serious tone now. I looked up at her, startled.
“About?”
“Malak hanging around?”
“Ummm…okay? I mean, he has business here in town, I guess. I haven’t really seen him that much. He left for a day or so and he just came back.” I pressed my lips shut. I don’t babble. Or at least, I never have before.
“Uh-huh.” Kaitie just grinned.
Lucky for me, the nurse came in and told Kaitie it was time for her first chemo session. I stayed with her through that and helped her when she got sick afterward. She didn’t want to talk at all, so I just climbed up on the bed with her and held her, while we watched a movie.
When Marcus showed up, I got up. Kaitie was sleeping restlessly.
I tapped his arm and we moved out into the hall.
“She had her first chemo session today and it didn’t go great for her afterward. The nurse said this was typical, but I am just not sure. In any case, she is sleeping now, but I am not sure if she will eat or not.”
Marcus lifted a brown bag. “I made her soup. It is mostly just chicken broth, but there are soft veggies in it as well. I kept out anything she might have to chew a lot, though.”
I grinned and hugged him. “I think that will be perfect, big bro! She loves your cooking and hopefully, she will be able to keep this down.”
He hugged me back. “I hope so too. Go home and get some rest, Nica. Are you going to work tomorrow?”
“Nope, taking vacation time this week. I will try to check in, though, so things won’t look too bad, but I want to be back here tomorrow morning. They may do another chemo session if it looks like she can stand it. Otherwise, they will put it off another day or two.”
He nodded and turned to go into the room, noticing that Kaitie was just waking up again.
I watched the two people I loved the most interact, hoping that I would lose neither of them. I then turned to go find Malak. I had more questions.
∞∞∞
Finding him was easy. He was standing outside in the parking lot, leaning up against my car. I suspected he didn’t want to give Achilah another chance to grab me out here. Getting answers, though, might be a tad harder.
“So, what or where was that room I was put in, Malak?” We slipped into the car. He didn’t even ask to drive, knowing that I wouldn’t like giving up the keys to my baby.
He waited until we had pulled out into traffic before answering me.
“You were in between dimensions but tethered to the Daemon world somehow. I don’t know how they did it, but the swirling colors are typical for the inter-dimensional world.” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes. “People, predominantly humans, cannot stay there long before going crazy. They start seeing things in the swirls. Did you?”
I shook my head, my concentration on my driving. “Nope. All I saw were the colors. But I was more focused on getting out of there, once I got over the effects of sedation breath.”
“Sedation breath?”
I blew out heavily. “That thing that Achilles…”
“Achilah.”
“…whomever… did to me? He blew it right into my face, the fucker.”
Malak barked out a laugh. “That ‘fucker’ as you called him, is one of the most dangerous daemons in existence. We have been fighting him for quite a while.”
“So why hasn’t someone killed him already?” Okay, that seemed like a logical thing to me.
Malak turned in his seat, an incredulous look on his face. “Killed him?”
I stopped at a light, so I was able to look back at him. “Yes. Even if he was immortal, I hear that a good whack to the neck with a sword that would disconnect his head from his shoulders would end that fucker right then and there.”
The light changed, and I started through the intersection, slamming on my brakes immediately for someone who had decided to run the light.
“Asshole!” I yelled, forgetting my window was up. I also gave the person a one-finger salute, but he was long gone. I started up the car and continued down the road.
Malak peeled his hands off the dashboard slowly. “Right. Well, it is much harder than just ‘whacking’ him with a sword. He has a lot of powers that allow him to prevent us from doing that.”
“Oh.”
“Indeed.”
The rest of the drive was uneventful.
Pulling up at my house, I turned off the car and looked at him. “So, I feel like, while you are giving me a chance to decide, there really isn’t a choice for me.” I tried to keep my voice steady and quiet.
Malak frowned. “There is a decision. Everyone has a choice. But for some reason, your choice is really being limited.” He opened the door and got out.
I followed quickly. “Why is that? What makes me special?” I then remembered that Achilah had said something to that effect as well.
Malak’s face was troubled. He slowly walked up to the house and unlocked the door, glancing in first before entering. “I am not sure. No one else has developed any sort of powers during their transition time, let alone before they have even decided.”
“That you know of.” I interrupted, pushing past him.
<
br /> Malak continued on as if I hadn’t spoken. “No one that we know of has been kidnapped before making a decision. No one has a connection with any sort of daemon – including a Chlarm daemon.”
You are special. That is why I am here with you. The words drifted through my head.
T’Koran was sitting on the couch, watching TV. I didn’t know how he figured out how to turn it on, or even where the remote was, for that matter. I wasn’t sure half the time myself. But he obviously had found it and was watching classic cartoons.
I stopped for a moment and stared at the screen and then back at him. “Speed Racer?”
T’Koran started singing: He's a daemon on wheels. He's a daemon and…..
The only thing stranger than listening to a daemon singing in my head was hearing the same words being sung softly by the Tennin beside me.
“Stop!” I laughed, punching the solid arm next to me.
Malak chuckled, rubbing his arm as he moved away. “Well, if you think about it, it is appropriate. I mean, he is a daemon on wheels…”
I paused, looked at the cartoon, down at the daemon, who was grinning wildly at me, and then at the Tennin. “Seriously?”
Yep, Chlarm Daemon! T’Koran chortled.
“He looks human!” I wailed.
“Well, of course, he does. Glamour works for daemons as well. So many things are based on truths, Nica. Including cartoons.” Malak disappeared into the kitchen, but I could still hear him chuckling.
“We have been invaded and we didn’t even know it.” I shook my head and headed to my home office to catch up on some work emails.
∞∞∞
There was a tap on my home office door. “Nica.”
Malak. I was sort-of avoiding him. And yet, I kept thinking about this decision, which was already basically made for me. I couldn’t go back. I have seen too much, changed too much to be just a normal human. I also didn’t think that the daemons would just let me go.