Changing His Reality

by Sophie Martin

  “It is not a person, Sir, but a substance.” The man hissed quietly as if not wanting anyone to overhear. “A substance that is of legendary powers. A substance seldom found on Earth anymore.” The man continued, and Jason did his best to look interested.

  “Well? Don’t keep me waiting. What substance is it?” He asked with a hint of impatience. The man leaned even closer to Jason and said in a nearly whisper, “A fairy dust.”

  Jason had to force himself to look shocked as he knew the man expected it of him, but in all reality, he had no idea what the hell was going on. He did notice though, the sudden stiffness in Dominic’s body and guessed it had something to do with what was being said. Fortunately the man seemed to buy his look of shock and continued not waiting for Jason’s answer. “I know it sounds impossible, but we did indeed mange to get our hands on a real-life, living fairy,” he said, gleefully rubbing his hands together like a cartoon villain. “If you are interested, Sir, we can take you to the subject to witness extracting the dust. We wouldn’t want you doubting the credibility of our claims.” Jason had no idea what to say, but a minute nod from Dominic prompted him to agree.

  “Very well,” he said in his best pompous asshole impression, trying to seem doubtful. It was hard for him to fake emotions he has almost forgotten even existed, but apparently the man once again bought his act as he almost tripped hurrying to prepare everything for their “prized customer.”

  “Please, Sir, if you’d just sit down in our recreation area, we’ll prepare everything for you in just a minute.” The man led them through a doorway to what seemed to be an elegant living room of sorts, with sofas and little coffee tables prompting them to relax. Jason didn’t know what to expect from an escort agency, but it wouldn’t be this classy feel the room seemed to emit. He sat back in one of the overstuffed chairs, and Dominic grabbed one of the cushions for Toby to kneel on. Then the man assumed position behind Jason’s back and watched carefully, one of the bodyguards from the reception area brought Jason a glass of champagne. They really did take good care of customers’ needs in here.

  Not even five minutes has passed, and the man was back inviting Jason to follow him. They went through a narrow hallway to the back of the building, and Jason noticed a back door Tyler spied on the Internet. It was good. They established a meeting point with Tyler that would be much more easily reached through that doorway. The man proceeded to lead them down the equally narrow stairway to the basement area. They followed him along another long and narrow corridor until they reached the furthest door in the end of it. The man opened the door and entered, asking them to come in after him.

  The sight that greeted them made Jason grateful that his emotions were shut off. There was a man chained to the wall with his arms and legs spread wide so he wouldn’t struggle. The man was naked from the waist up, and there was a cloth tied behind his head that seemed to gag him, preventing from making noises. The chained man’s body was tense, as if he already knew something bad was coming. A man stood on each of his sides, guarding him, or, more likely, preventing him from doing anything to free himself. But what convinced Jason they found what they were looking for was the unmistakable sight of big, almost translucent wings folded tight, close to his back. A sharp intake of breath coming from Toby further confirmed Jason’s suspicions. It was indeed the man they were looking for.

  The host pointed them to an overstuffed sofa that sat opposing the scene in front of them. The room was clearly prepared for whatever was supposed to take place here. They repeated the process of sitting—Jason on a sofa, looking comfortable as ever, even though in his mind he calculated the best possible moment to act. Dominic threw a cushion on the floor next to Jason’s feet where Toby took seat and then assumed bodyguard position behind Jason’s back. When they were seated, the man who brought them here approached the chained man’s back and grabbed his wing roughly. He pulled it to the side, outstretching the thin translucent membrane even.

  “As you can see, Mr. Z, this is a real fairy. During the procedure, his wings will produce the most amazing hallucinogen known to the paranormal world. Fairy dust is the strongest, most potent aphrodisiac as well as a miracle cure for many illnesses. For some paranormal races, it works as a way of enhancing their abilities. We will now start the procedure of extracting it.” The man waved to his two goons, and they forced the fey’s wings to spread open. The man went closer, ready to touch them, but Jason stopped him with one curt word.

  “Don’t!” he said, shortly startling the man who turned to him. Jason stood up, thus giving a signal to Toby and Dominic that they were about to take action. They kept their positions as was established, and Jason took the few steps to stand next to the dark-haired man. “I want to do it myself. I can’t be sure otherwise that you’re not tricking me somehow.” The man nodded in understanding and took a step back, letting Jason take his position in front of the fey’s wings. Still, the man stood a couple of steps back, watching Jason intently. So were his goons. They were watching him so intently in the matter of fact, that they completely ignored Toby and Dominic. Jason took another step forward and outstretched his hand as if to touch the wings. “Just tell me, what do I do?” he asked.

  “You simply need to stroke his wings,” said the man. If you do it long enough, the dust will appear on them, and you can wipe it with your hand into a bag. He passed Jason a small clear plastic bag, the type you see people in the movies sell drugs in. Jason took it and put his hand on the wing obediently. He stroked the membrane delicately and said, “That’s amazing. Feels like pure silk.”

  He barely finished the last word—“silk” was a signal they agreed on—when he heard a sound of something rolling on the floor. Jason took another fast step forward, leaning over the chained fey’s shoulder, and spoke quickly and quietly.

  “Take a deep breath and hold it as long as you can,” he said and did so himself. He only wished the fey listened to him. There was a small hissing sound, and the concierge man started saying, “What the…”

  He didn’t get to finish though, as both him and his goons fell on the floor unconscious. Dominic entered Jason’s line of vision and started counting on his fingers downwards from ten. When he got to one and then zero, Jason finally took another breath.

  “You can breathe now, Tim,” he said to the fey and was happy to hear a sudden intake of breath through the man’s nose. The fey listened to him then. That was good. Jason removed the scarf gagging the man and didn’t need to wait long for the question.

  “How do you know my name? And who the hell are you?” It was Dominic who answered.

  “We know it from Jiminy. He hired me to find and rescue you. And with a little help, I managed.”

  “Help? What help?” asked Tim, trying to turn his head as far back as he could from the awkward position, chained face-first to the wall.”

  “Mine,” answered Toby, coming fast towards them. “And it looks like you need it again,” he said, starting to unchain Tim.

  “What? How did you get the key?” asked Dominic, stunned.

  “One of the guards had it on him all the time. I noticed it as soon as we entered the room. You would too if you just focused.” He snapped, clearly tense because of the danger they were still in.

  “Toby?” asked Tim with disbelief. “Is that you? How did you get here? How did you manage to free yourself?” he asked as soon as one of his arms was free and he could turn to see the man who did it.

  “It’s a long story, and now is not the time to chat. We’re not out of the woods yet,” he said, passing the key to Dominic once he freed Tim’s leg. Dominic then took to unchaining his other side. “We can be discovered any second,” Toby said tersely. By then, Dominic finished with the chains, and Tim was able to turn on his somewhat wobbly legs. First thing he did was to give Toby a hard if brief hug. He then straightened and looked at Dominic, nodding with a simple “thank you.’ He then looked at Jason and tensed.

  Jason looked at the whole scene with cold,
dead eyes. Without his emotions, he resembled a machine, a precise, calculating, deadly machine. He knew some people could sense it better than others. This damage within him. His lack of humanity. But none of the people he as of yet met had a reaction as strong as Tim. As weak, tired, and haggard looking as he was, he still stepped in front of Toby as if trying to protect the younger man. Jason felt some emotion stirring within him at that sight, but he couldn’t for the life of him discern what it was.

  “Who the hell are you?” asked Tim in a steady voice that belied his weakened state. Jason knew that if he had his feelings back, he would be impressed. As it was, he wasn’t. He was still alert and on guard. As Toby pointed out, they weren’t out of woods yet.

  “I’m your back up. And we better get going. We don’t know when the other guards will start to suspect something is wrong. We need to be long gone by then.”

  “Right.” It was once again Toby who took command. “Timmy, do you know if there are any other prisoners here, people kept against their will?”

  “Yeah.” Tim was still reluctant to turn his gaze away from Jason. “There are. We were all kept in this same corridor. I know how to get there from here, but we need keys. And that man is right. We need to hurry. The guards will soon know something happened. It usually only takes about a quarter for them to ‘extract the substance.’” He made quotation marks with his fingers and a sour expression crept over his face.

  “Let’s move it then,” spoke Dominic calmly. “There’s more than one key on this ring, so let’s check if they’ll open more than just your chains.” Everybody agreed and exited the room in silence. Dominic checked, and surely enough, one of the keys locked the door where they left the unconscious men.

  “What about them?” asked Tim, tipping his head towards the now-locked doors. “Won’t they wake up soon?”

  “Nah,” said Dominic dismissively. The narcotic they inhaled will render them unconscious for hours and cause a minor case of amnesia. They won’t remember a damn thing about today.” And it was true. When Jason first heard about the gas, he didn’t want to believe such a substance existed, or if it did, that it was attainable by anyone but the military or spies. But apparently it did, and it was. That, or Dominic was a spy. Everything was possible.

  They followed the corridor halfway up when Tim stopped next to one of identical-looking doors. He had to count them to know which ones to go through.

  “It’s here. Try the keys, maybe one of them works.” They were lucky, or maybe rather the guards were careless, because the key they needed was indeed on the ring they took off the guard.

  The door opened, and they entered another narrow hallway. There were doors on each side of it, every one of them looking like a prison cell door. They were solid metal with a tiny window that could be slid open to the side. Jason took a look around and ordered.

  “Right, okay, we don’t have much time. Check which key will open the door, and we’ll check which of these cells are occupied.” They did as they were told, and soon Dominic found the right key. Toby and Jason discovered that nine of the ten cells held prisoners. The tenth had to belong to the rescued fey. Dominic started to open the door, but Tim stopped him.

  “Let me speak to them first. I don’t think they’re human, and they can be dangerous not knowing what’s happening.” Dominic nodded, and Tim approached the small window. He opened it and peered inside. There was a person in there standing opposite the door with a stiff, defiant posture. Tim spoke. “Listen, me and my friends are here to help you. They came to free me, and I told them there are more prisoners. So we’ll be grateful if you don’t try to attack us. Keep silent and try not to run as soon as we open the door. We need to free the rest of people here before leaving, as we don’t want to alarm the guards too early. Do you understand?” The person, hard to recognize as a man or woman in the dim light, nodded lightly, and Tim moved back, letting Dominic open the door. They repeated the same at each doorway until they reached the last. Timmy opened the window but could only see a person curled into a tight bundle on the floor. The woman from the first cell approached him.

  “He’s in a bad state,” she said quietly. “He’s been here probably the longest, and it’s not good for him. He’s a cuberow, and they don’t do well separated from their packs. I don’t think he’ll survive much longer.”

  “So you don’t think he’ll try to run?” Tim asked her.

  “Nope, I don’t think he’ll even be able to get up on his own.”

  “We’ll carry him then,” said Dominic, who was listening closely to this conversation. He opened the door with the same key that fitted every cell. Again—stupidity of guards. “We’re almost out of time by now, and I have only three more grenades. We need to stun everyone in this building so that they don’t remember what happened.” He opened the door and walked straight in approaching the small bundle of a man, lifting him gently into his arms. “Let’s get going, people.” He addressed the freed captives. “We will go to the back door and then decide what to do next. If we encounter any guards, stay back and we’ll take care of them. If I give you the command to ‘drop,’ it means you are to take a deep breath and hold it as long as you can. I will then say ‘safe’ when it’s safe to breathe again. We’ve got a dangerous drug that will render you unconscious in seconds if you breathe it in, so be sure to do as I say. Now let’s move.” He went to go out of the prison hallway when Jason stepped in front of him.

  “I’ll take him,” he said in his cold, emotionless voice. “You need to have your arms free to fight and throw the grenades, and I’m not good in fight anyway.” Dominic shot him a disbelieving look, but passed him the sleeping man. The captive didn’t wake up throughout it all. Jason took him and stepped behind Dominic. He reckoned Dominic had his reasons to doubt him. After all, he was the one to free Toby and Tyler and to ensure that everybody in this building recognized him as one of their patrons. But Jason told the truth. He wasn’t good in fight. He didn’t have to. It was enough for him to say “you’re dead” to a person in a voice laced with magic, and it became reality. Jason hadn’t fought since he was a teenager, and he wasn’t planning on doing it now. It was fortunate that Dominic was so resourceful with the stun grenades, as Jason didn’t need to use much of his power. He saved it for an emergency if there were one.

  They entered the basement corridor and moved towards the door. The small man in his arms stirred, looked at him, and started to struggle, gasping in horror. “You!” He rasped in a panicked voice. A lightbulb went off in Jason’s head. He clenched the man closer to himself and murmured.

  “Calm down.” Then he infused his next words with power. “You can see me for who I really am.” The man gasped again and stopped struggling, staring slack-jawed at Jason.

  “What? How? I thought you were—” he started.

  “One of the patrons here, someone people wouldn’t want to anger in any way,” Jason finished for him. The man nodded, and Jay spoke, looking straight ahead. “It’s a long story, and we don’t have time for it. Just know that we’re here to free you. Oh, and if the man before us says ‘drop,’ take a deep breath and hold it until he says ‘safe.’ We’ve got dangerous stun grenades with a drug inside them that you wouldn’t want to inhale.”

  “Okay, but—” The man started, but a command to “drop” stopped whatever he was about to say. His eyes huge, the man took a deep breath, squeezing Jason’s shoulder in fear. Jason looked ahead and saw several guards closing on their little group and fast. Then there was a hiss, and all but one of the guards dropped on the ground unconscious. Dominic barked, “safe,” and the man Jason held spoke quickly.

  “I was about to tell you, one of the guards is a demon. He’s immune to human drugs.” He barely finished speaking when the guard’s face twisted in an evil smile and he ran to Dominic, engaging him in a fight. It didn’t look like Dominic was winning either. “And demons are stronger and faster than humans and most other paranormals.” said the man, trembling in fear. “We
’re so dead now.” He finished quietly.

  “No, we aren’t.” Jason stated calmly. Then he muttered in power-laced words. “The demon isn’t immune to this drug. It simply takes a minute longer to work on him.” The man in his arms squeezed his shoulder painfully, and Jason looked down. The cuberow’s eyes were huge, and there were goose bumps covering his arms and even face. Jason ignored it and looked at the uneven fight in front of him. Dominic was barely holding his own, despite his clearly trained moves. It was looking like he was beginning to tire quickly, and the demon didn’t seem even the littlest bit fazed. The same wicked grin covered his face, clearly assured of his victory. That was until he took a swing. His eyes opened wide in surprise as did his mouth, and he suddenly dropped unconscious to the ground. Dominic watched him for a second, tense and panting from the fight but finally apparently assured that the demon would stay down. He gestured for the rest of them to follow him to the stairway. They did, and Jason took a second to look down at the man he was holding. His eyes were still huge when he whispered.

  “What in the name of God are you?” There was fear and awe in the question as if the man couldn’t really decide how to feel.

  “Hell if I know,” stated Jason, and he followed Dominic up the stairs.

  Chapter Eight

  The rest of their rescue mission went with only a minor hiccup, and Jason had to use his power only once more. When they left the rescued captives and Toby with Tyler, they went back in to deal with the rest of guards there. They weren’t sure if they got to everyone in the building though, so Jason made them come into the reception area so that Dominic could use the last stun grenade on them. After that they went back to the car. All the freed captives were gathered around it. Tyler stood with them while Toby sat inside, accompanying the freed cuberow who was too weak to stand on his own.