Kin of Exile

by Tyler Bunyard

  Puck took a step back but continued to glare at Johnny.

  “Think about it!” Johnny protested. “Name another man, woman, or child that can do the things that we can do.”

  “Dane’s got a bio-mechanical augmentation. He can do some crazy stuff!” Puck argued.

  “Does Angel or Karrel have a BMA?” Johnny asked, rhetorically. “Do you have a BMA, because I sure as hell don’t! Yet we can all do things that go far beyond the capabilities of humans and technology.”

  “You saying you can’t explain it?” Angel poked fun at Johnny, having regained his sense of humor amongst the squabbling friends.

  “Everything can be explained with science; I’ve told you that before,” Johnny retorted angrily. “I’m just saying you won’t like the explanation.”

  “Oh yeah!? And what’s that?” Puck challenged. “If not human, what are we? What are we supposedly turning in to?”

  Johnny smiled. He knew that, despite the evidence he was going to present, this next part was going to be the hardest for the group to accept. “Is it not obvious?” he began. “What creature doesn’t have a heart-like organ? What creature can survive getting a hole punched through their chest?” Johnny let his words dawn on Puck before answering his own question. “Demon.”

  The answer awoke Karrel from his daze. “You think we’re turning into demons?” The very idea angered Karrel. He had spent the majority of his life fearing the infernal creatures and a large portion of his life killing them. Being linked to them was an insult at the least.

  “It makes a lot of sense when you think about it,” Johnny attested.

  “I’m failing to see logic here…” Puck murmured, but Johnny paid no attention to the incredulity.

  “Okay, what did you have for breakfast today?” Johnny implored.

  “Dried jerky, with a side of dried jerky,” Puck happily announced.

  “And where did you get the meat?”

  “You already know where we get our–” Puck could not finish his sentence. He realized what Johnny was pointing out.

  “Every other human being that tries to eat meat harvested from a demon ends up poisoning themselves,” Johnny reminded everyone. “Us? It’s our favorite lunch-time meal.”

  “I wonder if we like the taste of human now…” Angel thought aloud.

  Ignoring the obscene comment, Karrel could start to see the points Johnny was making. Their “powers” were inhuman to say the least. They had all survived endeavors he would have originally thought to be impossible, and his strength and dexterity far exceeded what a person of his size and stature should adequately be able to produce. It was self-centered to think that he had achieved so much through training alone.

  “And…” Johnny continued, “I didn’t want to say this in front of the girls, but don’t you think it’s a little funny that, we happen to come across the only four friendly demons known to mankind? That we’re the first ones those succubi came across that can survive their kiss? It’s a little too convenient for my taste.”

  Angel became slightly distraught over the sentiment, and it felt like Johnny didn’t like expressing his own opinions on the matter aloud. Karrel had mixed feelings. Krystalyn had done a lot for him, especially in recent times, but he had always flip-flopped on the idea of trusting her.

  Puck sat down however, pointing his fingers at everyone. “See? I told you guys not to trust them. It’s why I’ve been keeping an eye out ever since.”

  “Yeah,” Angel scoffed, a grin forming. “I’m sure you did a great job investigating Prisca’s room these past two nights. See anything you’d like to share with the group?”

  “Hey, up yours man!” Puck yelled. “Johnny just said it himself, there’s no assurances that they’ll play nice forever.”

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Johnny interjected, “I love and trust Jessica. I trust her with my life. However, I think it may be best for all of us to err on the side of caution. The more time we spend with them, the more we may learn. But, be careful.” Johnny smiled, turning back to Puck. “See? Prisca’s total seduction over you may turn out to be beneficial,” he teased.

  Puck’s face went red, with anger, but he held himself back. He didn’t want to admit it, but Johnny’s argument was sound, and he had questions. “So, let’s say I’m starting to believe all of this nonsense. When was it that we shed our oh-so-meager human forms?”

  “I was hoping to confirm that right now,” Johnny turned toward Karrel. “You recall when you got your green book.” Karrel nodded his head. “You told Angel and I about a gemstone, remember?”

  Karrel hesitated with his response. It was a painful memory, one that he had been repressing for ages. He remembered his hands and knees on the ground, covered in blood, dirt, and glass. His ears were deafened by the explosions and screams around him. The air was filled with death and it was impossible to breathe. A smooth, red gemstone lay in front of him, as the two adjacent buildings collapsed down on his position; one of the buildings bearing the title of “home.” He could vividly picture the sight of his own reflection in the tiny red stone, as his hometown fell to pieces and the world as he knew it was ripped apart around him.

  Swallowing the repression, Karrel answered. “Yes, the day I got my book I remember a red gemstone. It was the last thing I remember seeing before… Well, before I got my book.”

  Johnny pivoted to Puck. “Sound familiar?”

  Puck remained silent. Angel decided to back up Johnny’s claims. “The last thing I remember before becoming this…” Angel shifted his hands from their solid form into a compressed plume of black smoke “is a black gemstone. I know you and Johnny have got a similar story, Puck–”

  “Stop!” Puck held one hand up to Angel and put his other one on his head as he turned away. “Yes, yes I remember. You know I hate talking about that. The green little rock that I saw has been burned into my mind. No need to bring up that shit-storm of a day.”

  “It’s important,” Johnny replied, “because I don’t believe this is all coincidence. I’ve known for some time now that we were all connected in some way; I think the gems are the key. In fact, I don’t think the gemstones belong on Earth.” The line caught everyone by surprise, but Johnny had convinced them of his point. “I think they come from their world.”

  “Like some kind of demonstone?” Karrel asked.

  “Sure,” Johnny was lost in thought, “if that’s what you want to call them. The point is, we’ve seen all manner of creature come out of the orange tears, which appear out of nowhere mind you, yet, you’ve all seen the amount of power I require to keep our portal-tech functioning. What if those gems are a byproduct of the energy used to form their orange portals, energy from their world? Johnny, Angel. You’ve been there with me, to their dimension. You know as well as I, how good it feels for us to be on their plane.” Johnny broke his analytical demeanor, waving his hands in the air with joy, as though he had just solved a mind-splitting puzzle. “This cannot be coincidence. I’m willing to bet that when we all touched those gemstones, energy from their realm got infused into us, energy that is now changing our very biology, or at least the base necessities of our bodies. We’re becoming more like the creatures that we fight.”

  Johnny’s explanation had made some sense, but something was still missing… It was irking Karrel. Why had the gem appeared before him when he needed it most? When he first laid his eyes on the green gem, he was seconds away from death. It had saved him. Johnny’s science behind their powers may be correct, but the timing was beyond coincidence. Karrel did not have an answer, so he held his tongue.

  Angel nodded his head though, silently agreeing with everything that Johnny was saying. “It’s better than any explanation I’ve got. The extra power comes in handy. I suppose becoming a mesh of human and monster isn’t so bad, as long as we don’t lose ourselves along the way…”

  Puck put his hand on his chin. “Aight, I’m willing to buy all of this, but how did these “demonstones” get to u
s in the first place? I don’t remember seeing an orange tear anywhere near me on that day.”

  Johnny’s happy disposition immediately dropped. “Uh…” Johnny cracked a guilty smile, “to tell you the truth. I haven’t quite figured that one out. But I will! Just give me some more time.”

  Karrel felt his stomach growl. “Well, in the meantime… As far as I know, I haven’t eaten in two days. So…”

  The bittersweet poise of Puck instantaneously shifted to that of a gleeful man. “That’s the best damn thing I’ve heard all day!” Puck shook his head heading toward the exit. “The UWP president is consorting with demons, someone’s leaking Karrel’s last name, and all of us are going to grow tails… Yep, we need a good meal. Four orders of whatever the hell I feel like cooking, coming right up!” Puck skittered out of the room, heading directly for the kitchen.

  “Hey, remember! Don’t tell the girls about any of this!” Johnny called out.

  Karrel shot a curious look at Angel as he followed him out of the room. “Puck’s happy I haven’t eaten in a while?”

  “A starving man enjoys food more than a well-fed one, I suppose,” Angel shrugged as he waved back to Johnny, who elected to stay in the makeshift medical room for a while.

  “And a starving man I am!” Karrel announced. “Couldn’t help but notice that there were no needles in my arm.”

  “Don’t look at me!” Angel gestured innocently. “You know how hard it is to come across IV’s in the wastelands? We’ve had to make do without them for some time now.”

  Karrel began climbing up the ladder that led out of the warehouse, with Angel close behind. It was a rough climb, and he still felt slightly weakened by his recent recovery. “Well then how did I get food and water?” he asked.

  “We fed you. Or, more accurately, Krystalyn fed you,” Angel answered.

  “What?” Karrel was shocked at the answer.

  “Yep. We kinda’ shoved whatever we could fit down your throat. Though, Krystalyn sort of took over the whole ‘nurturing you back to health’ thing. We offered to help her out, but she said she was fine, and when we insisted, she kinda’ got all huffy and puffy, so I played the part of a smarter man and let her handle things, though in hindsight I don’t remember if any of the girls paid attention to what food we eat, so you might not have been getting–”

  “Alright, I get it,” Karrel interrupted. “That was nice of her.”

  “You sound surprised,” Angel pried.

  “Yeah, it’s just… With what Johnny told us right now, I can’t help but feel a little weird having her alone in a room, messing with my body.”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot you two haven’t done that yet,” Angel gave a coy wink to Karrel.

  “Thank you for the typically lewd comment,” Karrel sighed. “That’s not what I meant.”

  “I know, I know,” Angel laughed. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much, though. Johnny told us to be careful, but he also puts a lot of trust into Jessica. It’s good. Hard to come by love like that in this day and age; I’m glad they share it.”

  “Passionate romances are becoming rather rare,” Karrel joked.

  “For some,” Angel admitted. “For others, it may be closer than they think.”

  “Oh?” Karrel perked his head.

  “Come on!” Angel slugged Karrel in his shoulder. “You can’t tell me that you and she don’t have a thing goin’ on. You’ve used her lap like a deathbed’s pillow. Hell, she spent the last few days keeping your sorry corpse alive.”

  “Hey! If I die, she goes hungry, remember?” Karrel added. “Besides, the last time Krystalyn and I discussed this topic, she made it pretty clear that we didn’t have a thing going on.”

  “I see…” Angel put on a thoughtful pose. “But you have discussed it.”

  Karrel gave his buddy a friendly shove, and Angel laughed at the chaos he had just caused. Karrel had to admit though, other than Angel, Krystalyn had become one of his closer friends. He enjoyed the company of everyone, but he did not spend nearly as much time alone with Johnny or Puck than he did with Angel or Krystalyn. Alice always seemed to be around when Angel was, but she typically kept to herself. The memory sparked his curiosity.

  “What about you and Alice?” Karrel inquired. It was the first time he had ever asked about their relationship. “You seem to be as close with her as she is with her sisters.”

  Angel pulled away from Karrel slightly, bowing his head and looking away. Karrel thought he could be making a mistake, but it seemed as though he had embarrassed Angel with his question. It was unexpected, especially with how Angel usually approached topics of a flirtatious nature.

  “We’re just good friends,” Angel smirked.

  “Just good friends?”

  “Yeah. I enjoy her company. She enjoys mine.”

  Karrel was taken back by this comment, and he made an effort to physically show it. “Alice? Enjoying the company of another living creature?” he sarcastically exclaimed. “Say it aint so!” This time Angel gave Karrel a weak shove, as he failed to hide his smile. “So, does she just sit there, or do you two actually engage in conversation?”

  Angel visibly withdrew when the question was asked. He glanced over his shoulders, making sure that no one else was in sight, before whispering to Karrel. “You can’t let Alice know I told you this, but she’s by far the most talkative out of the girls.”

  Karrel cocked an eyebrow in disbelief. “Even when she’s only around her sisters, Alice barely opens her mouth.”

  “What can I say,” Angel made a wide, cocky gesture, “I must be a sociable guy.”

  Alice being talkative was something Karrel could have never imagined. She was always buried in a book, dressed in her baggy black sweats. She had always come off as shy or introverted, and he was certain he had only ever heard her utter a few words at a time.

  Strangely enough though, Karrel felt warmhearted by this revelation. It was nice to know that even Alice, quiet as she may present herself, had someone to open up to. Who better than Angel to play that role?

  It was hard to believe that about an hour ago, Karrel was lying on a cushion, half-dead. Now, he was shooting the breeze with the friend that had dragged him to safety. He felt happy. It was scary to think back to a couple of months ago, when he had almost decided not to stay with this group of outsiders. As he and Angel opened the door to the kitchen, and a wave of the mouthwatering aroma from Puck’s famous cooking washed over them, he felt reassured that he had made the correct decision.

  Chapter 22

  A Leap Forward

  Having just woken from a short coma, the sharp, needlelike pain Karrel felt in his gullet was the most glorious sensation ever to have transpired. Puck had apparently come across a non-expired bag of flour tortillas on his latest supply run, and because he claimed to have traded an arm and a leg for the bag, he successfully guilted the boys into eating twice-over a full belly. The burritos he threw together were far beyond what could be described as delicious. The steamed rice, sizzling steaks, and warmed cans of refried beans mixed perfectly, and Karrel’s taste buds sang as though he was discovering, what used to be one of his all-time favorite meals, for the first time.

  Of course, the forced gorging resulted in many of the supplies going to waste. Karrel was certain that when Angel had gotten up from the table in the middle of the meal, he had snuck away to the bathroom to vomit as a result of the overeating. Either Puck had not realized this, or he did not care, because he had happily served Angel another burrito upon his return.

  Jessica and Prisca had thoroughly enjoyed the show, however. In fact, it was around the time when Karrel, Angel, and Johnny had all felt that their stomachs were about to burst when Prisca began to cheer them on. Her deathly encouragement had caused both Johnny and Karrel to reach for what Jessica called their “gateway burrito” that lead to the abuse. She had also aided Puck in his non-stop, blissful cooking by barraging him with a never-ending stream of compliments with each plate he prepared.
Needless to say, the girls laughed through the entire horror show, and Johnny was most likely regretting not accompanying Angel to the restroom.

  For Karrel however, the abdominal agony was a sign that he had been well fed. He would choose this sort of pain over the burning sensation of hunger any day of the week. Hell, he found himself thankful for the fact that he could still feel pain. He had almost died, and now Johnny had convinced him that he was losing his humanity.

  Though, he was not sure if Johnny had fully convinced him. Admittedly, Karrel had been torn about the discussion they had had. Almost everything the yellow-eyed engineer had said made sense, but it was a little hard to come to terms with not being human anymore.

  As he walked down the halls of the underground base, Karrel put a hand against his chest, checking for the millionth time for anything resembling a heartbeat underneath the circular scar tissue where his heart should have been. He waited for a moment… Nothing. Still, it was not enough to clear his mind. He could not possibly be turning into a demon. They were vicious creatures, and though Johnny had told him otherwise, he still saw the majority of them as mindless killing machines. That was a transformation he did not welcome. But, was he going to change? Johnny had used the present tense when revealing the removal of the group’s humanity. Did that mean that the changes had already been made? It was yet another topic that Karrel did not want to have in mind.

  Knowing of the girls was Karrel’s only saving grace. At the bare minimum, he had knowledge of four demonic entities that were far from being mindless. Their forms were almost human, too. He enjoyed his current aesthetics and did not want anything to change about them, but if he were to start metamorphosing, he had to admit, it would kick ass to have horns. He didn’t know how to feel about the tail though… That could get in the way. The girls never seemed to mind theirs, though.

  He could always ask Krystalyn. Though, he could see that conversation quickly turning into a death sentence, either physically or socially. If she blabbed about his question, he knew that Angel would never let it down. It was possible that she would simply answer it, however. Krystalyn and Karrel had become rather close over the months. Maybe he was overthinking it.