by K J Carr
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Vern was the perfect puppy gentleman when Kaitie brought him to visit later that day. She must have given him a bath, because his coat was soft and sweet smelling. His special Void stone collar gleamed against his darker patches of his coat.
Even his puppy breath smelled a little minty. I grinned at Kaitie when I discovered that. She just shrugged.
“Do you know they have doggie toothbrushes and tooth paste? I was so glad to learn that because his breath smelled!” She waved a hand in front of her nose.
I laughed. That was so true.
Vern must have known he had to be on his best behavior. He sat when asked, he gave puppy kisses to the nurses and then he squirmed and yapped when he realized he was in Marcus’s room.
We put him on the bed, so my brother could hug and pet him with his one good arm, and Vern cuddled right into him, kissing his face and sniffing his neck. After about twenty minutes, he just fell asleep on Marcus’s lap, happy as a puppy could get.
Eva glanced in and nodded. “I think he will be approved as a service puppy.” She grinned. “He is doing wonders for your brother.”
I glanced at Marcus and noticed he had also fallen asleep, his hand on the puppy’s back, a small smile on his face. The color in his face looked normal and he appeared to be breathing easily.
“Yes, he is.” I smiled. “He won’t be able to stay overnight of course, but we will bring him to spend his days with him.”
“You better.” Marcus grumbled, not opening his eyes. Eva and I laughed.
I stood up. “I am going to leave you two to nap, bro. Kaitie will be here in a few to take Vern back to her place.” I moved to the doorway, when Marcus stopped me.
“You are retiring, aren’t you, Nica?” He opened his eyes slightly.
Sighing, I turned around to face him, shoving my hands into my back pockets. He knew me so well.
“It’s time, Marcus. Sally isn’t happy with the time I am missing. Things were okay there for a while, after Kaitie had went into remission, but now here I am all over again. It is not fair to her, nor to someone who could move up into my position.”
He studied me. I felt like his eyes were reading my innermost thoughts and I shifted my weight, dropping my eyes.
“I understand. You know you are always welcomed at the diner.”
I snorted. “Which is another reason it is time. You need to take things easier, big brother. I am going to help you out there, so you can spend more time with Vern and to just be able to relax. We are not young anymore. Time is getting more precious. Let’s enjoy it.”
Marcus smiled at me. “Yes. Let’s. It’s okay with me, Nica, in case you were worried.”
I smirked at him. “Thanks, Marcus. I was going to do it anyways.” I turned and left the room, looking for Kaitie.
Finding her with Torry in the waiting room, I stopped in the entrance of the room. They were sitting close together, whispering like two love birds. The look on Kaitie’s face was one I hadn’t seen in a very long time, and it made me uncomfortable. Not because she was in love, but because she was in love with a Tennin.
Kaitie would die. Torry would basically live forever. She thought he was human, when he wasn’t. He was supposed to just be her bodyguard. Everything was based on lies.
“Kaitie?” My voice was tentative.
“Nica!” She smiled up at me, not moving away from him. “How are the boys?”
I frowned. “They are good. Both are taking naps now that they have greeted each other. Vern is being perfect and probably will be allowed to spend days here, if he is supervised.”
“That is great!” Kaitie sat up and pulled her braid across her shoulder. “I can probably bring him in the mornings…”
I interrupted her. “I have decided that I am going to retire, Kaitie. I can take Vern, and bring him here in a few more days, so you can get back to the store. I am sure your clients are missing you.”
She laughed, the sound joyful. “They understand, seriously. I think sometimes I am not needed anymore. Mary is handling the on-line part and Shasta, my new girl, has been doing amazing readings – way better than what I could provide.”
I smiled nervously, my eyes drifting down to where her hand was touching Torry’s thigh. She noticed and grinned. “Torry is going to move in with me this weekend.”
I frowned. “Isn’t this a little too soon?” I glared at the man, who just looked at Kaitie, a soft look in his eyes.
“I love him, Nica.” Kaitie’s voice was sure.
“And I love her.” Torry looked at me, his eyes bright. “Sometimes, it’s just about love, Nica, and not about what others think or may do. It is just about you and your partner and love.”
Torry was telling me that he was willing to fight for Kaitie. That this was more than a job for him. While that reassured me that he really must have felt something for my best friend, I was still worried.
Then I realized, it wasn’t my place to worry about her relationship. It was only my place to support her decisions and comfort her when it fell apart. She was an adult. She knew what she was doing.
Tension left my body and I walked over to pull Kaitie up and embrace her. “That’s great, Kaitie. I am glad he is here for you. We all need someone to love us.”
She pulled back to look at me. “You need someone too, Nica. What about Malak?”
I grinned and pulled away from her. “Not a good time. I want what you have with Torry, but right now we are busy with… life. And before you say it, Inias and Ridwan are my personal trainers in all things painful. That would just be weird.”
I swiftly left the room, raising one hand in farewell.
Chapter 15
While I had told Sally that I was not going to come in to sign my retirement papers for a couple of days, I decided to stop by the office to start cleaning out my things. I really didn’t want to drag the situation out.
Walking into the building felt strange. This was no longer part of my life. No longer a part of whom I was. I crossed the lobby to the elevator and hit the button, searching in my backpack for my badge while it came. I had the code for the office alarm tape on the back of it as well, which I might need given how late it was.
I found the badge just as the elevator doors opened, stepping into the car while pulling the plastic card free. The doors whooshed closed and then the car started to rise.
My office was on the fifth floor. I was leaning against the back wall when the car came to an abrupt halt between floors four and five. I stood up, my hand going to my waist until I realized I didn’t have my knife with me, given I had come directly from the hospital.
Shit! Shit! Damn! At least I had lights....
The lights flickered out.
“What the fuck?” I mumbled. “Why now?”
I heard a thump on the roof of the car, followed by a second heavier one. Crap! That sounded like terrorists…or daemons. Shit, I wasn’t prepared for either and I was out of time.
I looked around. Obviously, no place to hide here.
Think, Nica! Think!
What would they expect me to do? Probably scream. Not happening. Fight? No weapons. Wait. The staff. And there was the Void. I had transported recently to the Void when dreaming. Perhaps it was time to do so while awake. Sending out a prayer, I stepped.
The colors were the first thing I saw. Made it! I did a little jig. Now what?
Unfortunately, I couldn’t see what was happening in the elevator. Wondering if there was a way to make a slight window, I squatted and then moved my hand as if I was wiping clean a window of fog. I felt stupid doing this, but then surprised because it worked. I could see, from floor level, into the elevator.
I was looking from behind one set of legs. Unfortunately, there were at least two more sets there. Another daemon must have arrived after I had jumped into the Void.
“Where did she go?” That was a female daemon, whose legs I was hiding behind. Good, I also had sound. Perhaps I could figure out wha
t they wanted.
“No idea. Perhaps she teleported. I hear she may have that capability.” A deep voice answered.
“Seriously?” This was a male tenor voice, oily and uppity. “Transitioners don’t have abilities until they have become Tennins. She cannot teleport.” He snorted loudly.
“Then where is she?” The female daemon asked wryly. I could just feel her eyeballs rolling in her head, but I am sure she wasn’t showing him.
There was a slight pause. “I hear she is unusual which is why Achilah wants her. She is already showing special skills.” That was Mr. Baritone.
“Humph.” Mr. Snotty replied, not able to argue given I wasn’t there. “Can either of you teleport?”
It was a tense silence. I waited, wondering what the answer was going to be. Then one by one, they climbed back out the escape hatch. I guess that answered my question.
I sat back and thought. I really didn’t want to go back into the elevator right now. But I also was concerned that if anyone was in the office still, like Sally who tended to work late most evenings, these thugs could hurt them. I needed to go check things out.
“Nica?” I jumped, whipping around. Staring wide-eyed at the woman behind me, I put my hand on my chest. My breath caught in my throat for a few heartbeats before I was able to exhale.
“El!” I squeaked.
“You were able to enter the Void while awake?” El frowned at me.
“Desperate times makes desperate acts achievable.” I shrugged, breathing deeply. “I was about to be jumped by three daemons in an elevator. Instead, I jumped here.”
“Interesting.” El studied me.
“Yeah, well...” I stood up and wiped imaginary dust from my pants. I mean, I was in the Void. There was no dust. There was nothing but energy. “I need to go to a specific place from here, El. How do I do that?”
She studied me a little longer. I wasn’t sure if she was going to help me, or if my request was even possible. Finally, she just bent and looked through the window I had created in the Void.
“Nica, this window is unusual.” She paused, looking through it. “This is an elevator?”
“Yes.”
She stood. “Where was it?”
“Stopped between the fourth and fifth floors in my work office building.”
“Stopped.” She paused. “And where do you want to go?”
I thought for a moment. I had to be specific about this. “Fifth floor. About ten feet to the left of the elevator should be an alcove. I want to go there. But I also need a weapon.”
El looked at me curiously. “Haven’t you practiced calling your staff?”
“Not much. Inias was going to go over that with me soon.” I stated impatiently, when the thought hit me. “Is this something like finding loved ones when I teleport?”
El nodded, crossing her arms in front of her chest. For a brief moment, her posture reminded me of Ridwan. “Call it now, Nica.”
“Here?” I squeaked. It should work. I think. I hoped.
I put my hand out and called the staff. Nothing.
“It’s not working. At least not here…not for me.”
“Where you are shouldn’t matter, Nica.” El kept her voice calm. “You won’t always be on earth.” She cocked her head. “Try again.”
Good point. I closed my eyes and concentrated, focusing my mind. Once my thoughts and energy had stilled, I thought of the staff that had become almost like an extension of my arm. I saw it, in my mind, a connection springing out and away from me that felt familiar. I cracked open my eyes a slit and called to my staff. It came, smacking into the palm of my hand.
It looked more now than it had ever before, with the runes on it lighting up. Energy — Void energy — was pulsing around it.
“Wow!” I gripped it tighter, placing my other hand on the wood.
El studied it, reading the runes. “It is a magical weapon. Weapons such as these are more here in the Void.” She dropped her hands, her eyes shining. I got the impression that she wanted to reach out and touch the staff, but she was afraid to. I knew I didn’t want her to, for some reason, so I pulled it in closer to my body.
“So, how do we find the alcove?” I wanted to get her focus off my weapon.
El shook herself, almost like she had been mesmerized. The energy rippled around her.
“This way. This will be a good lesson for you.”
Cue eye roll. Yep, it seems everything in my life these days are a lesson.
“One day, you are going to strain those eye muscles, Nica. And then how will you show disdain?” El started walking as if she was climbing a set of stairs.
I stared at her. How did she do that? “How?”
She stopped and looked down at me. “If you believe there are stairs here, they are here. Come along, we need to check to see if we are in the right place.” She turned and continued up a few more steps.
Okay. Believe. Well, I needed to get there, so.... I stepped up about where she had started climbing. There appeared to be a firm step beneath my foot. Well, damn. I ran up after El.
She had created a small window like I had and was looking through it. “Here?”
I looked over her shoulder. Nope, this looked like the men’s bathroom. I pointed towards the right. “A bit more that way.” I started to walk, counting to about thirty paces before stopping and creating a window here. “Lobby,” I said to myself, before walking forward about twenty steps.
“Okay, here.”
I looked around. El was gone. Bitch. I guess she figured I knew now what I was doing and didn’t need her. Which I guess was true. I really didn’t know if she could even come to earth.
I stepped out of the Void and into the alcove, listening intently. At first it was quiet, but then I heard a sharp gasp. A small thump, and then a chuckle that was quickly cut off. Sounded like they had made it to Sally’s office. Fuck!
I crept out of the alcove and tried to keep to the shadows. Hard to do with all the fluorescent lights, but at least I could keep my back tight against the wall.
Reaching Sally’s office, I saw one of the daemons, but not the other two or Sally. Damn it. I wasn’t sure if I if my Hyrs trainers could hear me if I mind-called them, so I decided I may have to fight this one on my own.
Stepping into the doorway, I knew instantly this was a mistake. In one glance, I saw that Sally was restrained by one large, ugly daemon, while three others were spread out waiting for me. While I had surprised them, they were still more ready for me than I was for them.
Shit. No question about asking for help now, I guess. “Inias! Ridwan! Help! Daemons!” Simple was easiest as I also stepped into the office, going on the attack.
I dropped into my hyper-focused state, my body taking over my movements while the three daemons attacked. I might have been fine, if two more hadn’t shown up in the doorway a few seconds later. That caused me to falter and one almost sliced my arm off with his sword. I barely blocked in time, the blade still cutting my shoulder.
“Damn it, Ridwan! Get your ass here!” I shouted out loud, blocking another blade, then ducking under a third.
“You rang?” A sword went through one of the daemons in the doorway, a clean kill. Ridwan grinned at me.
Inias, in the meantime, had rolled underneath him, passing through a second Daemon’s legs and punching up with a brass enforced fist into its genital area. I flinched, since that had to have hurt. That one went down fast. Inias continued the flow into a standing position, pulling out his sword in one motion.
The three that had been attacking me turned towards them, while I stepped behind them and almost absently thought of my dagger. It appeared in my left hand. The daemon holding Sally held her completely in front of him, hiding behind her body.
“Try it, little girl.” This was Mr. Baritone. Sally’s eyes were wide with fear. She stared at me blankly.
I shrugged and then walked closer, standing almost in front of her. Mr. Baritone chuckled.
“I coul
d grab you and run, little one.” He shifted Sally slightly, but that was all I needed. I could hear the others finishing up and knew I would only have one chance for this.
I stumbled into Sally, pushing her to my right, while slamming the knife into his chest from my left. It slid between his ribs nicely, while I hugged him.
“I do practice left-handed.” I said, my lips close to his ear. “And I have studied daemon anatomy for hours. I know what I am hitting when I stab. You. Here.” With each word, I pushed the knife in deeper.
I swore I saw a light of respect in his eyes before they dimmed, his body slumping down. Ridwan gently pulled me away from him and my knife slid smoothly out of the daemon at the same time.
Inias knelt beside Sally. She had fainted in the corner after I had pushed her away.
“How is she?” I bent over to wipe my knife on Mr. Baritone’s shirt.
“She’ll be okay. I will make sure she doesn’t remember this, though. What should we do with her now? Do you know where she lives?”
I shook my head. “Nope. No clue. And I don’t really want to go through the Personnel files to find out. Nor her wallet.”
“Too late.” Ridwan was over by her desk, looking at her license. “I know where she lives. Her key is here as well, in her purse. Should we take her home and put her to bed?”
I thought about it a second. “You have clean-up coming?”
They both nodded.
“Well, if you can keep her unconscious, why don’t we clean up around here, make sure she doesn’t have any blood on her, and leave her at her desk as if she had fallen asleep here? I think that would be more believable. Then if she remembers anything, she might think she was dreaming.”
Ridwan grinned widely. “Great idea!”
Inias looked at him sharply. “It is a good plan. Better than taking her home. I can even arrange for her to wake up in a few hours so that she doesn’t spend the whole night here.”
“Thanks, Inias.” I smirked at Ridwan before turning back to him. “Can you also arrange for someone to follow her home? I don’t want her to be attacked twice tonight, even if it is a human mugger.”
