by T. G. Ayer
"Your mother and I are really proud of you. I wanted you to know that. You’ve had a lot to deal with in the last few days, and I wish you’d never had to experience any of it. We tried to protect you as best as we could but we knew the time would come when you'd need to take the power and use it."
"Thanks." Maya didn’t want to hear any of what he was saying. It made her realize the truth of his words. But she never wanted any of this. Why did it have to happen to her?
The gym was silent, all classes canceled for this particular session. Only Maya’s parents and Claudia were present.
Maya stared at the weapon her mom now held within her elegant hands. Leela moved around the mat, foot sweeping the floor, graceful and beautiful. She twirled and twisted her strange weapon in a lazy snaking dance, swirling like a Capoeira dancer, a deadly one at that.
It was an ancient Indian weapon called the Madu. Really a pair of shield, with twin antelope horns melded together to form a natural double-ended piercing weapon, dangerous enough for its points to slice through human skin, slash open a jugular or rip out intestines.
They gleamed, so dark brown they were almost black. The horns held a unique beauty as they spiraled until they reached their deadly points. And Maya ached to hold them in her hands. She could almost feel her knees soften, willing her to sink lower, to grab the horns and wield them as her mom was now doing.
Her mom came to the end of her lesson and handed the weapon over to Maya, who spent precious seconds tracing reverent fingers over the horns. The solid, ridged smoothness of the Madu was entrancing. She glanced up, guilty and ready to accept her scolding for delaying the lessons but her mom merely stared at her, eyes gleaming with pride, and Maya felt the thrill of satisfaction rise within her.
Maya smiled. She walked to the center of the mat and assumed her stance, repeating as many of the movements she could remember. Forward thrust on bent knees, low sweep around the body, backward kick, backward thrust. Like dancing, only deadlier and far easier to hurt oneself with a wrong move. At least with her dad's nunchuks, she’d end up with a bunch of purple bruises rather than gaping, bloody wounds.
And Maya found it hard to assimilate she was enjoying this training more than she’d ever enjoyed a sparring session with her dad.
Because she had enough power to send him flying on his ass if she wanted. And she was so untrained she could easily incinerate him if she made the wrong move. The most annoying part of this whole training process was nobody was willing to begin her training on controlling her fire.
Maya was dead set on changing that.
"Joss called again. And Ria," her mom said as she cleared the table after Friday dinner. "They’ve called several times this week, Maya. You planning on returning the calls at all?"
Maya was unsure what she wanted to do. She glanced up at her mom shaking her head. Then she avoided her eyes, busying herself with scraping remnants of butter chicken from the plates, stacking the dishwasher.
"You have to speak to them, Maya. They're your friends and they care about you. And what will you say to them when you return to school next week?" Her mom walked to her, placing a tender arm around her shoulder and asked, "Do you blame Joss?"
Maya shook her head. "No Mom, I don't. I could hardly be angry at her, even if she was partly to blame for the situation. If she hadn't insisted I go to that party. If she hadn't drunk what Amber had given her. Or given it to me . . . ." She sighed, pretty certain there were too many ifs and hindsight seemed to make everything so simple. "But no, she's not to blame."
She stared out the window, listening to cicadas sing outside in the warm evening air. Soon the weather would change, and like the weather, everything around her seemed to continue. The world didn’t stand still because Maya Rao suddenly discovered she was a freaking demon-killer.
"Maya, it’s what we have to deal with now. The reality is these demons have infiltrated the town. The Rakshasa who possessed Byron wouldn't have worked alone. If they’d meant to take you, they could still be around somewhere. And until we know exactly what it is that they want, we are staying put."
"So we aren’t leaving town, then?" Maya wasn’t sure if she was relieved or upset at the news. It seemed the most logical step, to leave the town and its demons behind.
"It hardly makes sense until we know what they want. They have ways of finding the people they are after and it wouldn’t matter where we go, we’d be prolonging the inevitable."
"Better to stay and fight then." Maya sighed. This is so not a good idea. "I’m worried, Mom. I’m afraid of how desperate these demons are and who they would pick to possess to get close to me again. Joss and Ria are normal human beings. They can hardly be expected to protect themselves. Would they even know they were possessed?"
Leela shook her head. "No, I don’t think that's the way it works. The demon is absorbed into the person, they have no idea what they are doing is out of character."
"And once they are possessed can we get the demon out of them? Can we save the person?"
"Sometimes. And it depends on the circumstances too." Maya’s mom smiled tenderly at her. "You're worried about Byron aren’t you?"
Maya nodded. "I killed a boy, Mom. It doesn't matter if he was possessed, I killed him. No more Byron. What about his parents? They don’t have a son anymore."
"I know it’s hard, honey. But you did what you had to do, you had to protect yourself. And who knows if the demon would've left Byron's body intact. Sometimes the demons wreak havoc with the mind of their host. Sometimes they leave behind a shell of the person." Leela shuddered. "The longer they stay the worse the result. And sometimes they just come and go. We never know. That's why we're so glad we have you. Now we have someone who can help us fight them."
Maya heard what her mom said but her mind was on Ria and Joss. "What if they use the girls to get close to me?"
Her mom nodded. "That's a possibility. Is that why you're ignoring their calls?"
Maya smiled, glad to confide in her mother. Strangely enough, it was her parents she now relied on. Two weeks ago, all she wanted was to get as far away from the claustrophobic arms of their parental devotion. So many rules to follow, so many things to think about. Until recently the rules regarding boys, parties and revealing clothing had applied.
Until the whole demon incineration thing.
Would the rules change now she was this all-powerful demon hunter? And what did her future have in store for her?
Chapter 12
The abandoned underground parking lot seemed the safest place when working with potentially destructive balls of fire. Concrete blocks were a damn sight more comforting than a wooden house or even a lonely forest filled with very flammable trees.
Maya looked around and gritted her teeth. She found it odd of all the people in her life to train her right now, it happened to be Yama’s stooge.
"You know, you don't really have to bother with this. My dad can help me practice." Maya offered, hoping he'd agree and drive her straight back home.
"I know you don't think I have to but I really do. The last thing I need is for you to be lacking in knowledge."
"Knowledge?" Maya glared at him. "What do I need to know other than the fact that I can roast a person with my hands?"
"Yes, knowledge." Nik's face darkened. "Tell me, how much do you know about Rakshasas?"
"I can kill them and they stink."
Nik remained silent for a moment. "So you’ve been able to smell the demons from the start, right Maya?" When she nodded he continued, "Has your ability gotten stronger?"
"I don’t think so, not that I've noticed. At Amber's I smelled the Rakshasa scent around Amber at the car. But the scent on Byron was so strong… decaying meat and spices." Maya fell silent as she digested each memory, and went back and forth trying to compare it with the Byron-demon who’d attacked her. "The scent on Byron was cloying, but not as powerful as the Amber-demon."
"It could be you had no idea what the odor was with Byron a
nd perhaps with Amber you were distracted by the fighting and maybe even in shock," Nik said, almost to himself. "Or it could be your power to scent the demon blood is getting stronger. And this might actually be a good thing."
"Yeah…a good thing." Maya mumbled. She was annoyed with Nik. More than annoyed. Not that he had the power to create fire with his own hands but he seemed to think he could boss her around well enough. She wondered what he did in his role as minion to a god.
"Come on Maya, concentrate." His voice echoed within the empty parking garage.
She sighed and took up her position again. Breathed deep, even though the rib still hurt a little. She held out her hand, palm facing her imaginary opponent and concentrated.
Nothing.
"You know what? I think this is a waste of everyone’s time." Maya dusted her palms together, anger vibrating through her like little volcanic waves. "You're probably all wrong. Maybe I’m not this . . . this reincarnated version of Mother Radha. Maybe you guys are wrong."
Nik stared at her as she gasped for breath, the tirade taking more out of her than the last hour of her so-called training.
"Are you done?"
"What?"
"Are you done already?" Nik repeated his question, his eyes cold, flinty. "Are you done feeling sorry for your poor little self? Are you done going over all the bad things that have ever happened to poor little Maya?"
As Nik spoke he stepped close, and the closer he got the more Maya seethed. His words bit at her, like gigantic crows pecking bloody bites out of her flesh. She hated him so much right then. The object of the biggest crush she’d ever had, now the object of such violent rage she could easily have-
Maya gasped as she flew through the air. She landed on her butt, coughing and spluttering inside a huge dust-cloud. Stunned, she waited until her head stopped spinning and the parking garage righted itself, before she tried to get back on her feet.
She blinked the dust from her eyes as it settled around her.
"Nik?" Maya called out and her voice bounced around the building.
The sounds of scrabbling echoed behind her words and Maya ran headlong toward it, tripping over her own feet in the dust-engulfed semi-darkness. She stopped in horror as Nik slapped at the flames merrily burning on the arm of his jacket.
She froze, dead certain she’d hurt him somehow, unable to bear his wrath. Worse, his pain.
"Did I do that?" She hoped he’d just say no.
"Now that’s what I’m talking about. Good job, Maya." Nik laughed and coughed at the same time.
"Are you demented? I could've killed you!" Maya snapped, horrified gaze trained on disappearing flames.
"No, you wouldn’t have killed me because I actually know what I’m doing."
Maya scowled at Nik, disappointed now he hadn't received so much as a singe.
"I had to get you in . . . what do you call it . . . the zone? When Byron attacked you it wasn’t just the alcohol allowing you to access your power. It was the base of power inside you."
She frowned. A small part of her saw how sexy he happened to look even when he smudged soot on his cheek as he dusted himself off.
"Where did your power come from? Just now, you would've felt parts of your body heat up, or vibrate or just feel odd or different."
Maya thought back to the strange dizziness she'd experienced, an odd vertigo pushing her off-balance and it hadn't helped when she'd been thrown backward. She touched her chest, recalling the heat which had pooled there, beneath her sternum, like a boiling river of anxiety, only controlled and almost solid.
"My head. I felt almost dizzy but strange. And my chest. It felt weird, sort of hot."
Nik nodded. "Anything else?"
"And my abdomen. The heat was similar to the one in my chest. What's all this about?"
"They are your Chakras. Where you draw your energies from. Your head is the Crown chakra which controls the spiritual aspect of the power." Nik reached out a hand, placed his finger in the middle of Maya's forehead. Right where her third eye should be, not that she put much stock in third eyes anyway. She so wanted to swat his arm away but a part of her wanted to hear him out too. And she was becoming very aware of Nik, especially where his skin touched hers.
"Your chest is the Heart Chakra, where you connect with the emotional aspect of the energy." Nik moved his annoying finger to her chest laying it against the bare skin revealed at the neckline of her filthy tee shirt. He’d soon feel the thumping of her foolish heart beneath his finger. Nik had no idea what he was doing to her. His finger lay over her heart, the same heart that thumped harder and harder because he stood so close, touching her.
"And the abdomen area is your Solar Plexus Chakra." Nik blandly poked the finger into her belly. She’d known it was coming. His nearness disturbed her, the heat of his finger through the fabric of her worn tee shirt made her clench the muscles in her abdomen against the intrusive digit. "Oddly enough this is where your thinking happens."
"Are you serious? My brain is in my stomach?" Maya scoffed. Yeah, the same stomach currently doing somersaults as all the places Nik touched now seem to burn with need.
Nik shook his head. "From the looks of it, that is where the problem lies. You're thinking far too much. It’s why I had to engage your thoughts, focus them on your anger so you would feel a solid need to manifest it. That’s where the Fire comes in."
"So the Fire is the manifestation of my anger?"
Nik nodded. "Anger and rage yes, but the Fire will manifest with most of your intense emotional peaks. The Kali Fire will flow, in tune with your body. Happiness and passion are also possible peaks."
Maya blushed at the word passion and hoped he’d change the subject quickly. Passion was the last thing she needed to discuss considering she was alone with him. Her parents had bound the parking garage when they'd arrived but then they'd left them. Alone.
"Right, now use your Chakras to direct your power. Aim at the far wall. You want to create enough energy to propel the flame all the way to the wall," Nik said as he took up a position close behind her. He looped an arm around her and placed his palm against her abdomen. Maya swallowed a gasp. The thin fabric did nothing to prevent the heat searing into her body from his skin. How the heck did he expect her to concentrate while he touched her? "Right, now breathe."
Maya breathed, realizing too late breathing itself meant her body moved against the hot hand on her tummy. How she wished he'd remove his hand. But then again she didn't. Instead, she concentrated on breathing, trying her best to ignore his touch, and failing miserably.
"Now focus as much energy as possible and let it loose," he said. Maya thought he'd remove his hand but he hadn't. She gulped, closed her eyes and tried to focus. Head, heart, abdomen. Heat began to build but Maya wasn't exactly sure what type of heat. The boiling warmth didn't resemble an angry heat at all. Instead, it simmered and bubbled, becoming hotter and hotter, threatening to burst into a million smoldering pieces. Maya held out her hand and let the pulsing heat fly.
A gigantic ball of fire exploded from her palm, and flew across the empty parking garage. The spinning spheres of flame generated so much energy as it left her palm she flew backward again, but she didn't fall on her butt. She fell with Nik. He took it in stride, grabbing her in his arms and rolling with the momentum of the explosion.
Maya lay flat on her back as she glanced up at Nik. They both looked at the far wall where her ball of fire had emblazoned a large burn mark. Maya laughed, thrilled she'd succeeded at last. Nik joined, laughing and happy after being so surly and stern the last few hours.
But the laughter died out slowly as Maya became aware of their position. She lay on the ground, her body almost entirely covered by Nik's, and it wasn’t his weight making it hard for her to breathe.
Nik's face hovered inches above her, his gaze landing on her lips and staying there a bit longer than necessary. She sucked in a breath and only seemed to close the distance between them.
He let out a
sigh, almost a growl and the warmth of his breath trailed across Maya's face. She needed air, managed a breath that was more a sob. Then Nik's lips closed over hers and Maya couldn't breathe anymore. She found she didn't care if she never breathed again.
Suspended in time, heat and passion set them ablaze. They said everything with a kiss that could never be said with words.
Nik pulled away, staring deep into Maya's eyes. And his soft lips claimed hers again and she forgot where they were and why they were in the abandoned parking garage in the first place. All that mattered was the passion overflowing between them and nothing could pull them apart.
At last, to Maya's chagrin, it was Nik who pulled away, his dark eyes impossibly darker. "I'm so sorry," he said, an expression much like regret creasing his features.
Maya flinched. "What's there to be sorry about?" She shoved him away and scrambled to her feet dusting herself off. "It was just a kiss. Don't worry about it." Maya hid her hurt with an empty smile. "Are we done with the lessons?"
"Yes. We've done enough for the day." Nik's face darkened as he rose to his feet, but Maya didn't care to figure out what he was thinking.
She walked off toward the exit, grabbed her bag and waited. "Right then, let's get going."
As Nik neared the door Maya shoved it open, holding it wide only long enough for him to pass through, then she let it slam shut. The door clanged, shaking the frame and spewing dust across the floor, the sound almost a death knell to Maya's damaged heart.
No. This has nothing to do with my heart. It's just my stupid ego that's hurt.
I'll get over it.
Chapter 13
When the doorbell chimed Maya's stomach clenched as she sat cross-legged at the foot of her bed, applying salve to her scraped knuckles. She froze.
Idiot. Afraid of a mere doorbell. Doesn’t bode well for hand-to-hand combat with a Rakshasa, does it? Yeah, but it's Nik you're more afraid of than demons.