by K J Carr
He dropped his hands and moved away to look out a window. “You are more prepared than you think, and you can be better prepared still. We will train you and teach you what you need to know – what it means to be Tennin, how to fight, and what the transformation might be like for you. You hopefully won’t be afraid, and shouldn’t have any or many regrets. You will be ready to let go.”
He turned around and looked at me. “So, no, Kaitie and Marcus, if they are still living, won’t get to see you. You may see them, but you cannot really interact with them. Because they cannot know you still exist.” He smirked. “Besides, you will look different, younger. Not saying anything about the wings.”
My chuckle was weak, as was my smile.
“This is part of the decision you need to make, Nica.” Malak then disappeared.
Chapter 17
After tossing and turning all night, I got up and decided breakfast at Luther’s was what I needed. I could also pick up something for Kaitie so that she didn’t need to leave her house.
Entering Luther’s was home. It always felt safe. I stopped and looked around and really saw it for perhaps the first time in a long time. And frowned. Something felt different today. I could feel my skin itch almost.
Millie waved and pointed to my booth, but I wasn’t feeling like it this morning. I moved towards the counter and sat down on one of the stools, twisting back and forth on the seat.
“Morning, Nica.” Teresa smiled tersely at me. She was working the counter and a few of the tables close by.
“Morning, Teresa. Is Marcus here?”
Teresa glanced towards his office, a slight frown on her face. “Yessss.” She drew the answer out. “He is acting a bit strange this morning, though.”
“Strange how?” I figured it had to do with the stress of the attack and then Kaitie’s diagnosis.
“Can’t really say. Let me know after you talk to him.” She moved away to place my order, figuring it was probably a #1 Nica combo today. Either would work, so I didn’t really care. “Kaitie’s usual as well?” I nodded.
Marcus came out of his office, walking briskly, his eyes panning across the restaurant. Seeing me, he stopped abruptly. His tongue came out and touched his bottom lip. Okay, that was a creepy thing to see my brother do. I stopped twisting and sat up straight, looking at him.
He was the same, but something about how he carried himself and the gleam in his eyes was odd. Not quite like him. I shivered, reminded of someone but not quite sure who.
He moved slowly towards me, almost stalking me. “Well, well. Hello, Nica.”
I glared sharply at him. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?” Those were not quite the words I had meant to say. Still, no reason to not be up-front.
He threw back his head and laughed. This was weird because I didn’t feel like the laugh was a humorous one. It was giving me the feeling like a bad actor on a stage.
“You are so funny when you are hungry.” He came up to the counter and I leaned back. For the first time in my life, I didn’t want to touch him. I wasn’t quite sure why though.
“Marcus, you are creeping me out. Why are you acting like this?”
Something flitted across his face, almost too quick for me to catch the emotion. He stopped still and didn’t move, not even blink, for a minute, and then he took a deep breath.
“Hey, Nica, getting breakfast for Kaitie, too?” His tone was now back to usual, but he acted as if he hadn’t just been weird. I wasn’t sure at all what was going on. Was my brother having a psychotic episode?
“Yes,” I said slowly. “I was going to eat mine here, but I may just take it to go. Kaitie should be up and awake now.” I slid off the stool and took a step back.
Marcus frowned. “Everything okay?” He leaned against the counter. Teresa stood behind him, her hands out to her side, her face looking perplexed.
I put my hands into my rear pockets. “Yep.” I wasn’t sure if I should ask, but it would seem weird if I didn’t. “Coming to Kaitie’s later today?”
He nodded. “Need to make sure our little sister is doing what she should to get better.”
A crash sounded in the kitchen. “Damn. I need to go take care of that. I will see you later.” He looked distractedly towards the kitchen, then turned back, looking like he wanted to kiss my cheek but the counter was in the way, so he turned back around and went into the other room.
Teresa came up to me. “See what I mean?” She whispered.
“How long has this been going on?” I mumbled back.
“I was on last night and it was happening then. Some guy had come in, wanted to talk to him, and soon after that, he started acting strangely. And then he would act like himself. And then back to strange.”
“Interesting. Maybe it’s the stress.” Millie came over and put the food containers into my hand before rushing off to take care of a customer who had been waving his mug at her for the last minute or two.
“Maybe.” Teresa didn’t look convinced. I wasn’t either. I absently handed her a twenty and left, not noticing the startled look on her face as she held the bill.
∞∞∞
“Kaitie!” I sang, coming into her house, looking around for her. “Breakfast!”
Kaitie’s head slowly lifted from the back of the couch and glanced over at me. “Put it in the kitchen, Nica. I am not feeling hungry right now.”
No, even I could see she was not well. I hurried into the kitchen, grabbed a couple slices of bacon from my meal, and then went back into the living room, stopping in front of the couch.
“So where’s Torry?” I studied her intently, munching on a slice.
Kaitie was pale and looked like she had barely dragged herself from her bed to the couch. She was sprawled across it, her legs stretched out to the side like she didn’t have the energy to pull them up next to her. I reached down and put them up on the couch and then grabbed the blanket from the back to tuck in around her. Glancing around, I frowned and then went into her guest bedroom to steal a pillow from the bed. Plumping it as I came back in, I then put it under her head. While bent over, I kissed her forehead.
Her smile trembled.
“He had to run some errands. He only left a few minutes before you came, and only because I told him you were on your way with breakfast.” She mumbled, her voice tired.
He should have waited until I had arrived. I made a mental note to discuss this with him when he returned. In the meantime, Kaitie needed some love.
“I am making you tea, Kait. I am sure you have one that will taste good to you.” I stood.
“I had ordered one with ginger and mint while I was in the hospital. I think it arrived yesterday. Thank the mighty Zon.”
I waved my hands up and down and repeated. “Thank the mighty Zon.” This was our joke since there is nothing like ordering something and having it arrive the next day, no matter what it was. Almost instant gratification, and as close as one could get for someone like me who hated going into malls.
I went back into the kitchen and snatched a couple more pieces of bacon while I looked through her tea stash.
“God, Kaitie! I think these have grown and mixed on their own!”
“Such a funny girl! Someone got me a tea of the month subscription for my last birthday if you remember. I really don’t drink that much tea!”
Well, at least her voice sounded a little stronger. Thank goodness for the power of tea.
“Oh.” My own voice was quiet. “Oops.”
Except she heard me somehow. Either that or she knew me very well, which was more probable.
“Yeah, babe. Wear that guilt proudly.” I popped my head into her living room. Kaitie was wearing a smile on her face, her knees up with her feet flat on the couch. At least she had a little more color on her face.
“Ha! Of course, I will. Along with these sixty fab-u-lous years.” I flipped my hair and disappeared back in the kitchen.
Finding the tea that she wanted still took a f
ew minutes, but the water was warming up, so it was not time lost. Besides…. bacon!
“I hope you are not eating my bacon, you wench! I might not want it now, but I want it to be there when I am hungry!” The words drifted in from the other room.
“Whose bacon? Who brought this bacon? Who paid for this bacon?” I yelled back.
“Girl! You know your brother wouldn’t have you pay for your meal!”
That stopped me cold. The kettle whistled so I poured the hot water into the mug, dunking the tea bag a few times. Grabbing a spoon and saucer for the bag, I went back into the living room, looking troubled.
I put them down near Kaitie and stood, looking down on her. “I paid today, Kaitie.”
She looked at me, confused. “Say what?”
I sat down on the coffee table, not seeing her grimace at using the table as a seat.
“I paid today. Marcus was acting bizarre. I just wanted to get out of there fast, so I got my food to go, paid without thinking about it, and left.”
“Do you think it’s stress?” Kaitie looked thoughtful.
“I don’t know. He was…leering at me, Kait. My brother doesn’t leer. Nor does he say things that were almost suggestive. I didn’t want to be around him. It made me feel…uncomfortable. Then it was like a switch went on and he reverted to his normal self. Even Teresa thought he was acting peculiar.”
We sat there thinking for a minute.
Finally, Kaitie shrugged. “Well, ask him the next time you see him.”
“I could, I guess.” I was thinking that I would take Malak or T’Koran with me the next time. Either or both could tell me if I was imagining things.
“So why, again, did the surfer dude run off?” It seemed a little strange Torry wasn’t here when he had said he was going to stay the night.
“He didn’t really say. He just indicated that it was important, after getting a text. He should be back soon.” A small, dreamy smile touched Kaitie’s lips. I raised an eyebrow at her and she laughed.
I shook myself and stood, moving over to an overlarge chair to curl up in. “What do you want to do today, peep? Read a book, be read to? Watch a movie? Watch daytime TV and make fun of it?”
We grinned at each other. “Daytime TV!” We both shouted together.
Kaitie added, “I am in the mood to watch some Judge Judy if you can find her on right now.”
I picked up my phone and checked the TV listings to see when the show was scheduled for. “Ah, one Judge coming up…channel 55.” I grabbed the remote and turned on Kaitie’s TV, which was hanging over her fireplace.
“Thank goodness for five hundred channels of brain-numbing shows!”
We sat back to enjoy a morning of killing our brain cells. Hopefully, it would kill that tumor as well.
Chapter 18
Katie had fallen asleep halfway through our Judge Judy marathon. I turned off the TV and moved to her back door, opening it, looking into her backyard. T’Koran appeared near me.
Bad things here. He looked solemnly up at me.
“Here now or going to be here soon?”
Not sure. I feel…uneasy, Nica. So maybe soon? He looked thoughtful.
I was looking at him, but not seeing him. “There has been a lot of weird things going on, TK. Have you seen Malak? He usually doesn’t leave me alone for this long.”
Tennin said he needed to run an errand and he would be back soon. T’Koran shrugged.
It seems weird that I would miss him when he was gone. I wasn’t at all sure how things would go if I decided to transition; well, once I told him that I would transition since it was almost a sure thing even if I didn’t want to. My life would never be the same since there was that daemon coming after me already.
In any case, once he handed me off to the Guardians for them to train me, he would go off, probably, to find the next human to offer a decision to. I had begun to think of him as a friend, someone who would be here for me through the good and bad. But this was a job – I was a job, and he needed to go on to the next one once I have told him if I would transition or not.
I glanced around the backyard. Suddenly, the day wasn’t feeling quite as nice as it had a few minutes ago.
“Going to stay out here or come in, TK?”
I will stay here. Sun is not something I have had much of. It feels wonderful against my body. Trees and flowers and grass smell and feel divine. Thank so much for bringing me here, Nica. T’Koran bowed to me, a small grin on his face. He knew I hated that formal junk.
“Enjoy, then, but if you continue that bowing shit, I am going to have to kick your ass.” He chuckled as he scurried off into the bushes. I turned and headed back into the house to make myself a cup of normal, black tea. None of that herbal crap Kaitie loved for me.
Filling up the kettle, I stopped when the doorbell rang.
Frowning, I made my way to the front door, looking out the side window. Marcus stood on the stoop. Okay, now this was strange. Not only did he have a key, we all walked into each other’s houses generally with no more than a knock on the door and a shout out as a warning.
I didn’t want to let him in, but it was my brother, even if he was making me uneasy. I looked over my shoulder towards Kaitie and saw she was still asleep. Maybe I could use that to my advantage.
I opened the door and looked at him. “What is with the doorbell, bro?” I put my hands on my hips, glaring at him. “Kait’s asleep and you could have woken her up. You know she needs her sleep.”
Marcus looked me up and down, a leer on his lips. His eyes were stopping at very inappropriate places, particularly given he was my brother.
“Jennica.” My name hissed out.
Over his shoulder, T’Koran was frozen in the shadows, a look of horror on his face. Achilah! Barely whispered into my brain.
“Come back later, Marcus. Let’s let Kaitie sleep.” I whirled around to close the door, but Marcus was faster, pushing me into the house.
“Marcus!” I tried to keep my voice low, but fear was in control now.
“You know I am not Marcus, Jennica. I don’t know how, but you do.” Marcus’s voice now sounded less like him and more like that high daemon.
How had this happened? Had he taken over Marcus? Would my brother come back to me or was he now dead? I moved away from the high daemon, but he followed me, grinning over at Kaitie.
“Dear little Kaitie. Fratan said she was tasty, the little he had before you and that Tennin had interrupted his feeding. Do you value her, Jennica?”
I didn’t say anything.
“What about your brother? He is here inside still. I didn’t consume his soul when I took control of his body, but I could. He is also…delicious, but not as sweet as you.”
“Leave my brother alone! If you consume him, I will hunt you down for as long as it takes!”
The daemon laughed, throwing back his head and bellowing out before cutting off the laughter suddenly.
“Such a brave little Transitioner. Not yet a Tennin, though. So, no powers. No special weapons. No real threat, little Jennica.” He moved around the living room, touching Kaitie’s things. I moved closer to her on the couch, trying to be as much a barrier between her and him as I could be. I felt a slight touch on my leg. Damn it, Kaitie was awake! What now?
“You are crazy! Why are you here?” I tried to pull his attention to me.
“I am here for you, of course, Jennica. Not because you are special, but because you have the potential to become a Tennin. We don’t need more Tennins in the universe. There are more than enough of those damn intruders. I want more of mine here, to consume more humans, to live more freely.” He paused and looked like he was looking inward. “Perhaps I will give your brother to one of the daemons. He would make a wonderful vessel.”
“No!” I yelled. Malak! I screamed in my head, trying to broadcast.
Achilah flinched. “What a powerful mental voice. Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps you do have powers that are untrained.” He looked at me w
ith more interest.
Oh God, he heard that? I was hoping that just Malak had.
I started to yell mentally again, but suddenly it felt like I was in sludge.
“Unh-uh, Jennica! We don’t need more of that. No more yelling out for help.”
I trembled. He must have somehow stopped me from being able to use my telepathy. Which meant I might not be able to talk to T’Koran either.
No, you can talk with me. We are bound. It is a different pathway. He doesn’t know about this, I don’t think.
TK! I watched Marcus-Achilah closely, trying not to show the relief I felt in talking with T’Koran. Can you talk to Malak and get him here?
I am sorry, Nica. I cannot. The sorrow in T’Koran’s voice almost drowned my senses.
Damn it. Wait.
Can you find him? Or if he comes by, can you tell him what is going on?
Even if I found him, I couldn’t talk to him, Nica. I know not how to write in your language or his. I know not how to help you.
Frustration increased. Marcus-Achilah stopped and looked at me. “What are you doing, Jennica?”
“Nothing.” Yeah, not too belligerent.
“I don’t agree. I think you are doing something, I just don’t know what.” He studied me.
I thought of one more thing. Bring him to a window or something. See if you can show him a little of what is going on so that if he comes in here, he is coming in cautious and not unaware, TK!
That I can do. And I will fight with you once he comes.
Can you do that?
Marcus-Achilah frowned at me and came towards me. I took a step away from him.
I will do what I can.
Okay, gotta go for now, but will talk to you later! Eeep!
Achilah grabbed my arms and shook me. “What are you doing?” He growled at me. This was not my brother; I couldn’t keep using his name. I didn’t want to use the daemon name either – that would have let him know that I had some other help from within the daemon world. So…