Chapter 27
A few days later I was on my way home after work, walking through the courtyard when I heard someone shouting my name.
"Nickie!" Devon called again across the open space, causing me to turn, I watched him cross the courtyard toward me, not bothering to yell back. He approached quickly, jogging smoothly.
"I've been watching for you. Could I convince you to come to my place? We can find something for dinner and watch a film if you'd like." I looked at him for a second, wondering why he really wanted me to come over. I knew that food and a movie weren't what he really had on his mind, and after a second or two I realized that he probably wanted to talk about my trying to shift him. That wasn't something that we wanted to discuss out in the open like this.
"Sure. Let me run upstairs and change into something more comfortable, and I'll be right down." I watched him only long enough to see him nod before hurrying up the steps to my apartment. I was eager to hear what he'd decided, and pretty sure he'd have made a decision or he wouldn't have made a point to wait for me to invite me over.
Less than ten minutes later I knocked on Devon's door. He let me in and invited me to sit down.
"I hope you don't mind, I ordered a pizza. I offered food and a movie as an excuse to get you to come over more than anything. I'll do both, but I wanted to talk to you more."
"I don't mind. I figured that you had other reasons, but you didn't have to wait for me or come up with an excuse to invite me over. You could have just sent me a message asking me to stop by."
"That never occurred to me." He shook his head at his own lack of forethought, "I guess I've been so preoccupied with making this decision that normal things just aren't registering."
"I understand, it's a big decision. Something you never thought you'd get the chance at. I'd probably be in a state of shock too."
"Shock…" He seemed to mull the word over for a minute, "Yeah, that's about right." Devon sat down on the edge of the recliner he'd picked up recently and scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to clear his mind.
"I assume you've made up your mind?" I prompted, curious about his decision.
"Yeah, I want to do it. But I have a couple of conditions."
"I can't promise that you'll get what you want, but I'm sure if they're reasonable then Bill won't object."
Devon nodded, "I know you can't make promises, and I think the things I want are more than reasonable."
"What is it you want?" I slid forward in my seat until I could reach him. I laid my hand on his knee, the simple touch seemed to calm him, and he looked up, laying his hand over mine.
"I realize that there is no guarantee that this will work. Actually, I fully expect it not to. Because of that I want as few people as possible to know. I want as few people present as possible, and above all, my family's not to know."
I nodded, understanding where he was coming from. "I can tell you Bill's already told me that should you decide to do it, he wants to be there. And Alexis should be there, I want her to use her healing talents to monitor you for the whole thing, I don't want to accidentally hurt or worse, kill you by trying this. Even if Bill doesn't insist on her presence, I will." Devon nodded, accepting my reasoning, “Having the two of them there will necessitate at least one, but most likely both of their personal security." Devon was rubbing his thumb back and forth over my hand again, the motion seemed to sooth him so I didn't stop him.
"So that's four, I can't say that Bill won't want more there, but I do understand not wanting a crowd. I don't really want one either, and if it comes to it, I’ll fight to keep a crowd away."
The doorbell rang. Devon released my hand as he stood; he answered to the door and took the pizza from the delivery guy, signing the receipt before closing the door.
"Let's eat in the kitchen" He carried the pizza to the other room. I followed him into the kitchen, and pulled napkins out of the drawer while he grabbed a couple of paper plates for us to eat off of. We sat down at the table he’d recently added to the room, each taking a couple of slices of pizza from the box and taking a bite.
"I don't want anyone told. Anyone. I want it kept secret as possible. At least until it's done. If it work's then it won't matter who finds out." Devon spoke again as he finished his first slice of pizza.
"I can't promise that. I think it's a good idea, but it's not up to me."
"I know." He continued eating. "How soon do you think we can do it?"
"I don't know. It will probably be a weekend. We can try it when you're off, or in the evening after work."
"I'd prefer when I'm off. Always before, when they tried to get me to shift, something would happen. It didn't hurt much at the time, but I was really stiff and sore the next day. It'd be best if I don't have to get up and go to work the next day."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know that trying to get you to shift had been a painful process."
"It's okay, I'm aware of it, and I'm okay with it. It's a choice I've made knowing it's a possibility."
"So this weekend, or two weeks from now. I'll let Bill know that when I talk to him. He may get a hold of you. He will probably want to speak to you in person about it."
"That's fine. If he doesn't already have my number, give it to him."
I h ad finished eating so I picked up my plate and napkin and dropped them in the trash, cleaning up after myself. "Will do. Do you wanna watch that film you offered me?"
"Do you?"
"I'd like to, but if it was just an excuse to get me to come over, that's okay too."
"Well," he drawled, "It was, but I’d love to watch something. I’ll get my mind off this and keep me from overthinking it."
We put the left overs away and went into the living room. When the film got over I went home and because it was late, I sent Bill a message instead of calling him. I relayed Devon's decision, and his requests, and I included Devon's number in case he wanted to call him himself.
Bill called while I was on my lunch break the next day. He said he'd already spoken with Devon and the others.
"We'd like to do it Saturday, but in order to comply with Devon's request for privacy; I don't have a location available."
"What kind of place do you need?" I wracked my brain for places we could use.
"Ideally? Some place rural, we want it far enough from people that no one would hear screams, just in case. Sometimes forcing an animal form can be pretty painful. Normally we go out to the desert at night, but because Devon has requested we do this during the day, and because he doesn't want anyone to know, indoors would be good too. It would guarantee that there were no spectators. During the day you can never be sure there's not a birdwatcher with binoculars on the next hill top."
"Hmm…Give me a couple hours to think about it, I may come up with something."
"Let me know if you do, I'd like to get it all set up tonight if I can."
"I'll call you tonight, either way." I assured him before disconnecting the call.
Saturday morning we gathered at my parent’s farm. I'd arranged with Dad to use one of the barns, one that didn't have any animals in it for the time being. I'd called Dad Thursday afternoon, telling him that we needed it, but not why. He had no reason not to let me use the old barn so he'd given the key for the door to Devon before he'd left the day before, saving me a stop this morning. Not seeing the point in taking two vehicles on the same drive, Devon and I made the trip together. I kept the driver’s door open and sat sideways in the seat, waiting for everyone to arrive, while Devon went ahead, carrying a small duffel bag, to unlock the door for us and make sure there was a clear space for us to work.
Once everyone had arrived I lead them over to the old barn. We stepped into the building, pushed the doors closed behind us, preventing anyone from driving up and accidentally seeing what was going on. Blinking as our eyes adjusted to the dimmer light inside, we gathered near the middle of the large empty space at the center of the barn, and I stepped forward.
&nb
sp; "Devon, you know already know Bill and Alexis, and you met Gabriel a few weeks ago. This is Caden Bradley," I motioned each person as I said their names, "He provides security for the Harmonia" I turned to the other man, "Caden, this is Devon Wilson." Devon offered his hand to Caden.
"Nice to meet you," Devon said, they shook hands, briefly, "Thanks for coming today." Caden nodded, but remained silent.
I lifted one eyebrow at Bill and motioned for him to take over but he shook his head
"This is you're thing, you're in charge." He deferred, "I'm just here as a witness."
I nodded, accepting control, "All right then. I’ll just do a quick run through of what I expect to happen. Just so there's no surprises, then we'll get started.
"Simply put, I'm going to try to shift Devon. He's never been able to shift before, but I can feel a wolf in him. We're not sure if it will work, but we're going to try."
"Alexis, I'd like it if you'd watch him with your healing sense. I don't want to hurt him. If you're watching, you can stop me before that happens." She nodded, agreeing to my request.
"Any questions?"
"What do you need from us?" Gabriel wanted to know.
"Hopefully nothing. You're here because we couldn't have the Anikitos and Harmonia in what could, potentially, be a dangerous situation without their security. Plus, you make good witnesses, should this work."
"All right," He nodded, stepping nearer to Bill as Caden stayed close to Alexis, preparing to do their jobs should the need arise.
"Anything else?" I looked at every one around me, watching for more questions. When no one else stepped forward, I turned to Devon, "If you're ready, you can go change."
He nodded, "I'll be right back." He grabbed a small duffel sitting near the front door and stepped into the feed room in one corner of the barn.
I turned back to the group in front of me, and saw surprise on Gabriel's face, "He's been away from the Kindred for some time, and isn't as comfortable with the casual nudity anymore. Plus, he knows I'm still not all that comfortable with it either, so he's going to wear shorts or something this time around." Gabriel considered it for a moment before nodding.
Devon came back out of the room, leaving the bag behind, wearing only a pair of boxers. He padded confidently on bare feet to where the group was standing.
"You ready?" I asked.
Devon remained silent but dropped down to one knee in front of me; if I didn't know better I would have said he was preparing to propose. He didn't bow his back or bend and put his hands on the ground like most do when shifting, he kept his back straight as he looked me in the eye and nodded.
I looked up at Alexis to see if she was ready and saw the glassy look in her eyes that meant she was using the piece of her that she used to heal. Without another word I reached out and set my hand on Devon's bare shoulder.
I closed my eyes and focused. I concentrated on extending that metaphysical part of me that called animals into Devon. I found the wolf inside him, the one I knew was there. I touched it with my energy, petting and comforting it. He seemed comfortable with me, content to let me touch him all I wanted. I knew he was familiar with my scent; I just had to convince him to trust me enough to call him to the surface.
I started coaxing him, drawing him toward the surface. He stood from where he'd been curled and slowly followed, but when we were almost to the surface he stopped. I tried to coax him further but he wouldn't budge. I reached my power down again, this time taking a firm grip in the soft fur on the ruff of his neck and pulling. He took another step, but halted again. He seemed willing to come anywhere I wanted but it was as if there was an invisible wall blocking his progress.
I stopped pulling, and stood still for a moment, petting and soothing the wolf, trying to decide what to do next.
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