The Demon's Change

by Donna McDonald

  Chiang was waiting for him when he arrived in Medical. He lowered the body down into the unit, and watched Chiang hook it up to life support. Moments later the unit was humming, but the body within it was still motionless.

  And it was definitely devoid of all life. He knew it as sure as he had felt it growing colder and stiffer each second that he’d carried it to Medical.

  “Shades of Kellnor,” Chiang said. “Lieutenant Trax said Rena was suicidal. I thought they were just having another petty argument like the last twenty I witnessed. I should have put a monitoring bracelet on her like the lieutenant asked me to.”

  Malachi stared at the form under the glass top of the stasis unit. She had said he was enlightened. Even Ania had not been that approving of him.

  “Rena released her spirit from her own body before I could stop her. Worse, I have discovered there is something wrong with Conor’s brain. There is no one in this organic shell I am trying so hard to preserve. Why did I bother? I rushed here like I could make a difference. I know I can’t. There is no spirit in the shell. This is illogical.”

  Chiang put a hand on Malachi’s arm. “Your energy is all over what is left of the female you carried here. You reacted the only way a potential mate for that body could act. This female, or at least this body, is like your own. It is only natural that you would want to preserve it for as long as possible.”

  “If true, that’s an utterly useless instinct. I clearly saw the spirit that animated it leave the room. I think even you would have seen it because it was quite clear. I don’t know what power her ancient words of death held, but they worked instantly.”

  “Okay. Let’s take the body out of stasis and put it into the decomposition unit instead,” Chiang said, watching the red flare in Malachi’s eyes.

  He knew he was risking true harm, but he put a hand on Malachi’s arm again.

  “You are obeying something far more powerful than logic.”

  “You’re trying to tell me I’ve turned into Liam, or Zade, or you. I’m now at the mercy of my host body’s biological urges,” Malachi complained.

  Chiang shrugged. “Well, something like that. Obviously, you’d seriously hurt me if I didn’t help you preserve her.”

  “Not hurt—kill—and yes, stop gloating. I know that threat means you’re right about everything you told me. How long can the body be preserved in the stasis unit?”

  Chiang put his serious doctor face on. “Judging from the state of the body when you got here, there’s no magic keeping it from breaking down this time. My estimate is two weeks. Hopefully, her body will outlast the mission so Lieutenant Trax can say a proper goodbye. There’s no contact with the team right now. Gwen tried getting in touch with Synar today, but he’d already left Main City. Apparently, the away team is without ship to shore communication.”

  “Is the commander worried enough to send a second team yet?” Malachi asked.

  Chiang shook his head. “Not yet. I heard Synar has a small army of Norblade warriors helping him. A second team may not be needed this time.”

  “Good. I’m needed here,” Malachi said.

  Chiang nodded. “You can’t really go to Norblade in that body anyway, can you? I mean, to the people of Norblade you would be Conor Synar, right?”

  Malachi straightened. “Yes, and that’s completely Liam’s fault. I could change this body quite easily if he would just let me.”

  “Fascinating,” Chiang said. “So is that kind of physical remolding like advanced healing work to certain areas to affect the desired change?”

  “More like controlled destruction of targeted tissue followed by massive amounts of healing that you hope works out like you want it to,” Malachi said. “It turned out fairly well for Ania.”

  “Yes, it did. Fascinating,” Chiang said. “So is your emissary still in Kefira?”

  “No,” Malachi said sharply, realizing how far off the hunt he had gone. “Thank you for reminding me of my original task. I was looking for her when I came across Rena.”

  Chiang couldn’t help laughing at the Malachi’s consternation. “Go. Resume your search. I’ll watch Rena’s body for you. I won’t be sleeping much until Boca comes back.”

  Malachi felt his eyebrows arching in surprise. “Why? I thought you were having a peaceful time without your mate. You said so just yesterday.”

  Chiang shrugged. “She is away from me and unable to communicate. I need to know she is safe. Rest will elude me until I hear that is the case.”

  Malachi ran a hand through his hair, a stressful response he’d seen Liam do dozens of times when he was in the presence of a compassionate friend. He looked at Chiang, maybe seeing him more clearly than he ever had. Were they friends? Perhaps they were. Connections between males were so much harder to understand.

  “Does the torture of having a mate never end?” Malachi asked.

  “No, I don’t think it does,” Chiang said, sighing as he returned to his previous work.

  Malachi looked at the body in the stasis unit. “Fine. I’ll be back later. I’m planning to sleep on a medical table tonight, providing we don’t have a more serious use for them. I would just be here in mist form even if I left my body in my quarters.”

  “Aye,” Chiang said. “I’ll probably take the table next to you and keep you company. At least we’ll have each other to talk to when we get bored.”

  Chapter 17

  After a restless night where none of them slept well, the appearance of their captain accompanied by a group of armed soldiers sent the entire village into a frenzy. Karr thought it was a stroke of good luck that they had all eaten at the tavern before Synar arrived.

  The four of them walked to greet their captain.

  Glancing back over his shoulder instinctively, Karr saw Dayena had come outside to watch as well. His regretful glance had her stiffening. The thought of what she must now be thinking about his friendliness almost made him ill. She probably thought he had been deceiving her all along.

  Boca noticed his tightening lips. “I told you to be friendly, not to get attached to her opinion of you.”

  Karr snorted and glared down at the warrior female who had sniffled and wept for her mate most of night. He hadn’t been asleep. He had just pretended to be to spare her pride.

  “How are your eyes feeling after all that weeping over the Greggor you said you didn’t miss?”

  Boca’s glare back at him actually made Karr feel better. It at least took his mind off his guilty conscience.

  Synar stepped away from the Norblade warriors and strode forward to meet his crew. “Find out anything?”

  “Yes. All technology fails here,” Ji said stiffly, still irritated from having spent the night trying to sleep in a chair.

  Seta glared at the male whose staring had made it nearly impossible for her to get any rest last night. “Ignore him. I don’t care what the device is saying. I know she is here.”

  “Here’s some news for you. I-eeta escaped. If she is here, she is definitely not anyone’s prisoner. She’s just in hiding,” Synar said. “We’re going to round up everything that breathes and looks like it might be over forty Earth years old. And then we’re going to test them.”

  “Test them? How? There’s no way to conduct a conclusive blood test here. Are we taking prisoners?” Boca said.

  “If necessary,” Synar said. “We’ll seek cooperation first. You’re awfully quiet, Ensign.”

  “I have nothing to report, Captain,” Karr said.

  Synar nodded, his gaze scanning the space now filling with people. He raised his voice. “I need to speak to the village elders or whoever you acknowledge as leader here. No one is going to be harmed or taken into custody just yet. We’re merely looking for someone. When we find her, you all can go back to your business without incident.”

  Karr glanced back to the tavern and saw Dayena put a hand to her throat before dashing inside. She could just be scared, he thought.

  Or she could be preparing to run. />
  Shades of Kellnor. This was his first mission and he was going to screw up just because of his crazy urges and worry about an old female.

  “Captain? I’m speaking up now. Permission to check a situation at the tavern,” Karr demanded.

  Synar took one look at Karr’s face and ordered “Go.”

  First intuition in mission newbies was often sharper than all the careful research he could conduct.

  He looked around at the others.

  “Okay. Let’s get this raid started. Ador and Trax, take two warriors and start knocking on doors. Warro, you’re with me until we get through the politics. Your primary job is to keep me from getting into a fight.”

  Warro snorted, but nodded.

  Seta snorted at Synar’s declaration and glared at Warro a final time. The captain had no idea. Ji was the most combative male she had ever met. Deciding to just be thankful Synar hadn’t paired her with him, Seta pointed at four warriors.

  “This way,” she ordered, noting Ensign Ador fell into step next to her as they headed to the edge of the village.

  ***

  Karr pushed past the tavern owner who asked him what was going on.

  “That is our captain. We are looking for someone.”

  Moving quickly around the male to avoid the other questions in his gaze, he went inside the now empty tavern. And that’s what it definitely was at the moment. It was empty. There was no sign of Dayena.

  His gaze roamed the large room, lighting finally on a small set of steps leading up. Following nothing but instinct, he tread lightly as he climbed them. Near the top he paused and heard a scuffling. Rounding the corner into what appeared to be a sleeping area, he saw Dayena hastily stuffing clothes into a bag.

  “Why are you planning to run?” Karr asked. His hand instinctively went to his stunner when her angry gaze met his.

  “Were you and the healer planning this raid last evening? I’ve been a prisoner many times, Karr. I won’t be one again if I can help it. If you want to stop me from leaving, take that stunner out of its holster and set it to kill. That’s the only way you’re taking my body anywhere today,” Dayena exclaimed.

  Karr watched her go back to her packing. “Are you the Allurean we seek?”

  “Of course. I should have known,” Dayena exclaimed, waving her arms in the air as she mocked his words. “Everyone is always looking for mythical creatures, but it’s always real ones who get caught in the traps. May the Creators have mercy on your insanity.”

  Karr tilted his head and studied her. She was sniffling and trying not to weep. “We’re only looking for her, Dayena. If you’re not the Allurean, you have nothing to worry about.”

  Dayena turned around and lifted her sleeve, shoving it out where he could see it. On her arm was a coded number above a scanning mark. From his cadet training, he realized it was a penitentiary branding. It bothered him and he had like a hundred questions about it, but he was not going to lose his focus on his goal.

  “We’re only looking for the Allurean. We’re not looking for escaped prisoners,” Karr declared.

  But her extreme fear got him to thinking. What would Captain Synar do with any escaped prisoner? The captain would have to return her.

  “Yes. Your captain would turn me over to the authorities without a second thought about it. He works for the Peace Alliance. So do you,” Dayena said.

  “Are you reading my thoughts?” Karr asked, puzzled at her quick and intuitive answer. He was shocked at her accuracy.

  “Yes,” Dayena answered. “I liked the ones you were having last night better.”

  Karr felt the heat climbing his face. “You mean you know I was thinking about your feathers and . . . ”

  “Yes. And I was only flattered. Now today I am ill because I never guessed you were a warrior on a Peace Alliance crew. Shamanata decorettam. Eliam. Eliam. I am the unluckiest being that ever lived. Why do the Creators torture me when I am so close to returning to them? All I wanted was to die in peace.”

  He heard her wailing increase as she continued to pack.

  “I swear I will not let you be hurt,” Karr promised. Shitza. Mu lar ez. Why had he said that? He could not really promise her anything. Could he? “Stop that. You can read my mind, Dayena. You know you can trust me. I don’t want anything to happen to you. That’s why I chased you down.”

  “Ensign Karr? Where are you? State your location.”

  Karr sighed heavily when Synar’s voice calling his name brought a new level of fear to Dayena’s eyes. Shades of Kellnor. His first blasted mission and he was about to screw it up.

  “Climb into the bed and pretend to be ill,” Karr ordered, wrestling the nearly full bag off the bed and away from her. “I’m at the top of the stairs, Captain.” Dayena squeaked in alarm as Synar’s footsteps sounded on the stairs.

  “Under the covers. Now,” Karr whispered fiercely. Since he had really given her no other choice, Dayena did as he asked, peeking fearfully out at him.

  His urge to crawl into the bed next to her both appalled him and had him questioning his sanity in trying to fool one of the most intuitive males he’d ever met. He stashed the bag at the bottom of the bed and tossed an extra cover over it.

  When Synar got to the top of the stairs, Karr was standing next to the bed, his hand on his stunner again. “Sir, this is the server from the tavern. She is elderly. I felt she probably should be checked. I found her ill. Boca gave her some healing last night, but she is worse today.”

  Synar looked at the fearful female. “We mean you no harm. We are looking for someone and need to do a DNA scan to make sure you are not her. If you will voluntarily allow us to take a small blood sample, we’ll leave you alone to rest.”

  “Okay,” Dayena said, putting a quiver in her voice. “But I want him to take it. I don’t trust you or your crew.”

  When Dayena pointed at him, Karr heaved out an exasperated breath. “If you can’t bring yourself to trust the creatures who try to help you, what good is your life?”

  “When you’re my age, tell me how you feel. I have learned to trust no one, Karr. I was even wrong about you,” Dayena declared.

  That brought Karr back to full attention of what was going on. “Are we taking samples from everyone we check, Captain?”

  “Yes. One of the warriors is going to take them back to the test facility. I’m sending Warro and Trax to oversee the process to make sure the results are not falsified. Like your elderly friend here, I don’t trust anyone either. Ever used one of these?” Synar asked, holding up a single use blood drawing tool.

  “Quite frequently. I was trained as a field medic.”

  “That’s right. You were. I remember that in your file. Good. You can help Boca take the samples. Congratulations, Karr. Consider it a field promotion,” Synar said, handing the lancer over. He grinned at Karr’s frown. “Buck up, Ensign. I really don’t intend to hurt any of these females. We just need to find the one we’re looking for and then we’re done.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Karr said.

  Synar left the way he came, jogging back down the stairs as quickly as he’d climbed them. Karr waited until he was sure the Norblade male was well out of hearing range.

  Karr walked to where Dayena still cowered in the bed. “Give me your arm, Dayena.”

  “No. Please, Karr. I can’t let you take my blood. It will kill me. I can’t tell you why, but it’s true. Please. Don’t do this,” she begged, her voice quivering along with the rest of her.

  Karr fought her until he’d pulled the covers down and freed an arm. He pushed up her sleeve and ran a finger over the prison mark. It made him hesitate, but it also hardened his resolve to protect her.

  “I will not let them hurt you, but if I don’t take back a blood sample, they will just send someone else to get it. No matter how far you run, if you try to leave they’ll think you’re the Allurean and go after you. In the meantime, the real one is here in the village and will get away. We have to do this. You have to tr
ust me.”

  Despite her scream of protest, Karr laid the lancer on her arm and withdrew a tiny amount of life force. Then he leaned over and licked away the drop on the outside of the tiny hole. He watched it heal shut and nodded in approval.

  “I’m a hybrid of several cultures. Like you, I don’t really know what I am, but I do know that I have healing properties in my saliva. I used to heal my foster family when they took me in. I did it to make them like me. I haven’t done it for anyone since—until now.”

  She stared in open-mouth shock as Karr put the lancer to his own arm and filled it the rest of the way. “Why are you doing that?” Dayena asked.

  “My blood can’t be genetically mapped because it changes every time I have it taken. That’s why I don’t know what I am. It will mix with yours and hopefully be too confusing to figure out. The technician will claim the strongest blood match that pops on the test, or at least that’s what happens all the time to me. I can’t guarantee you won’t be sought out again for retesting, but at least it buys you some time until we find who we’re looking for here.”

  He stowed the now full blood sample in the vial and sealed it. “Running away will be worse, Dayena. Don’t do it. You’re safer hiding in plain sight until we finish our search for the Allurean.”

  “Karr, I . . .” she paused a moment, pushed the covers off and swung her feet to the floor. “Thank you. No one has done anything to help me in a very long time. It is easy to think the worst of people.”

  “What were you imprisoned for?” Karr asked.

  “For being different,” Dayena answered. “It was not that I did anything evil.”

  “How did you escape?”

  Dayena moved her gaze away from the naïve young warrior. “You already have shown me more compassion than anyone else I’ve known. I will not add to your emotional burden. Suffice it to say, I was younger then and not nearly as fragile as I am now. I overcame them and escaped.”

  Karr debated pushing her to tell him the details, but what good would be served? He had already risked his career for her because of the strange feelings she provoked in him. He didn’t need to feel sorry for her past too. “Will you remain as I have asked?”