Shifting Heroes

by Francheska Fifield

  The demon's power is overwhelming, his skin, Jason's skin is splitting open. His body can't contain all of that power so it is starting to fail. We will have to do some emergency healing on him after I motion to the medic and motion to the demon pointing to the blood. He nods and readies his equipment. I know how this works and I don't think it will go well.

  Suddenly power blows out of Jason and the bear flies backwards landing on a branch. I doesn't mean hanging over it, I meant there is a branch, a thick ass branch, and it goes straight through that bear, came out its chest, and still the bear fights the power. Fights against the energy. Its cries are excruciating and seem to go on forever.

  Until finally the bear melts away and there is Beth on the tree. Stuck, bleeding, and snarling, with vampire teeth extended. She is not the shifter anymore, she is not the hunter, and she is a desperate vampire. The demon takes advantage of that walking over, not caring that her claws enter its skin, his flesh. In fact they go in so far she can’t get them out. She snaps at his face, I see him inhale deeply and blow. It cannot have been more than a whisper of air yet her head flies back into the tree, her eyes roll back in her head, and suddenly the vortex of power is gone.

  All of us look up Jason is screaming in pain trying to tear his sister's claws out of him, the medic is awake again, rushes over to help as do the others. Beth opens her eyes and the swirling vortex of power is there. Jason is getting emergency medical treatment, alpha pulls the demon off the tree, and I stand up and ran over freaking out words pouring out of my mouth like vomit.

  "Is she still alive in there? Did you kill the body beyond healing?"

  Alpha looks a bit worried. Charlotte demanded that her granddaughter come back in one piece. Right now Beth is in one piece but the organs are another story. They are a little jumbled up inside. The demon looks at me responding in that powerful distant voice.

  "She is whole. We can consume blood, food, and rest. She is powerful now, she is strong and angry, and we cannot reach her mind. We can only hold her back for so long. A short while. Then we will have to leave and go back to another, go back to the other body. When that happens the host will be insane again. You need to make sure she is somewhere she cannot escape."

  I call Charlotte to tell her to ready the strongest cage she's got. A cage so reinforced that a hundred crazed vampires and werewolves couldn't get out. Also some kind of shock treatment or something that can knock her down. If they want blood they are going to have to fight for it.

  "Charlotte you need to get a helicopter here. We need to do this fast. We need to get Beth back to New York now and in a cage before the demon loses the ability to hold Beth in. Alpha is coming. As is the medic and Jason, he is in need of intense healing. The rest of your people will go back to bring down the camp and come later. We have no time to spare."

  Everyone is ready in minutes hearing me talk to Charlotte. Now we can only hope that the medic can save Jason so the demon will have somewhere to go back to when Beth boots him out. But even more we have to hope that the demon can hold its effect until it is safe for everyone, until it is safe for her to kick him out and take back control.

  Chapter Five

  She smashes into the composite plastic. As strong as steel but clear. It looks like Beth might actually smash it enough to crack it.

  "I am glad we have the multiple layers between us and her. I think we will have to tranq her and rebuild them off and on if this continues though."

  I nod to Charlotte. She is not wrong. This is not a permanent solution. The demon, Samigina, is back in Jason helping to keep him alive and stable until his body can heal naturally. He is keeping himself bottled up inside, only coming out to tell us if Jason's body is giving more warning signs or if a certain part needs attention. Charlotte has a scientist and a doctor working on him to keep him alive.

  All the others are finishing up other projects and preparing for new work. Everyone will be pulling double shifts, the less experienced keeping on the currently running projects and the more experienced ready for their work with Beth.

  "You can tailor something to a vampire, a human or a werewolf. You can't prepare it for something like Beth."

  "I have never seen anything as horrifying as the demon and her battling for her body as we got her in here."

  I close my eyes fighting the image that instantly comes to mind when she mentions it. Beth's body spasming, her claws growing and receding while she is not an animal causing blood to pour from her fingers. Her teeth elongating pushing out of her gums, going longer than normal for a vamp. The cries of agony, the cries of anger. Horrible pain, horrible sounds. I had felt my heart wrenching. A hand on my elbow brings me back to the present.

  "We will find a way. I am not quitting on my granddaughter."

  "Neither am I."

  She pats my shoulder and walks away. I can see the stress on the plastic already and wonder if the bullet proof glass will work any better. I walk out of the room locking up the electronic steel door wondering if the glass fails if the steel wall will hold any better. We are quickly learning that man-made materials are not all they are cracked up to be. Should ask the Fae if they have any magical materials I can use.

  Luckily Charlotte is wise. She had installed knockout gas valves in the last chamber. The steel will hold up long enough to knock Beth out. It being distributed in the air will mean she has to breathe it in and it will take affect faster. Then we can put her in the other identical cage and fix this one up. It will be back and forth like that until we manage to cure her.

  If we manage to cure her...I am not sure if we can cure mental instability. At least not hers.

  "I thought you said she was on mood stabilizers?"

  "She is. We are trying every combination of mood stabilizers, bipolar medications, and schizophrenia medications possible. We give her knock out gas and inject her. It is hard work and nothing is working."

  "No shit!"

  I look over. Another composite plastic wall is down and she is punching the glass. Even bullet proof doesn’t mean Beth proof. They are thinking about keeping her permanently sedated but I vetoed that because we won’t know how to bring her out of this. Charlotte agreed. Warily since the cost and time is racking up but she had.

  We have been discussing sedating her long enough for her to heal though. Because she is hurting herself. Even now I am watching cleaners scrub the blood off the floor as construction workers rebuild the second cage. She punched so hard her knuckles had split.

  Her hands are not even hands anymore. They are broken bones attached to other broken bones, hanging together by skin. She is now using them like clubs. Or slamming into the walls with her shoulders. We will have to stop her soon so we can let her heal. Setting that many bones will be hell and the healing slow, especially if she is medicated.

  We will need to pump the blood into her via IVs. Perhaps we can pump up her meds too so she will have plenty of it in her system when she wakes up.

  I sit in the meeting and try to keep my jaw off the floor. Is this crazy science obsessed worker serious?!

  "You want to try what?"

  "Electro shock therapy."

  "No. Come up with something else."

  "We have tried a few different medications over the last few days. Nothing works. Nothing even dents her mental instability. We have to repair the cages daily. She spends less than twenty four hours in each before its demolished and we have to gas her. And the gas isn't lasting as long each time. She's developing immunity to it. If we don't try something soon we will have to use live rounds."

  I know they don’t mean regular drugs they give humans. They tried those, her being half shifter, but they are not strong enough for her vamp side. So they moved on to the experimental stuff they invented for the crazy vamps down here.

  "So your idea is to use electro shock therapy. It's barbaric."

  "For humans it is too much, but vampires are different. They react one of two ways to pain. They pull inwards and mentally lock
themselves up and distant themselves from the pain or they go crazy and attack. She is already in that mode. We might actually be able to shock her enough to pull her inwards. But not to the point where she's unresponsive. Instead to the point where she rational enough to treat in other ways."

  I can’t believe it but I understand and agreed with everything she says. Charlotte is emphatic about it. She is older and she trusts these doctors and they are not lying about having to use live rounds, which will only set things back. So I do the only thing I can. I agree.

  I take the stairs two at a time. I need out of here and now. I push past everyone and get down the stairs before anyone bothers me. The half breeds know better, my teeth are out and eyes red. A vampire on the verge of vamping out is not safe for anyone with human blood. And despite being an intellectual I am still a full blooded vampire from a strong line.

  "What are you doing here with my mother?"

  I don’t really bother stopping to listen to Beth's mother. I have nothing nice to say to that bitch on a good day and today is not a good day.

  "I asked you a question dirty one."

  "Go to hell."

  I get shoved from behind but Beth is my workout buddy. You don’t learn nothing from sparring with a hunter. The shove doesn’t even throw me off balance. I use the momentum to spin and grab her by the throat shoving her up into the nearest wall.

  She dangles by her neck above me. I glare up at her and see fear. And I am so fucking glad of it.

  "Get a fucking clue here! Your mother could kick your ass six ways to Sunday and so could everyone else in this house! Your own daughter being a half breed could still kill you while napping! You are not even close to being as strong as you think you are!"

  Instead of letting her down I toss her across the room and stomp out growling at anyone that bothers to look at me. Once outside I go to my bike and hop on. I have to get the fuck out of here.

  I ride so fast I can’t even see the scenery. I don’t bother giving a damn that an accident would maim me.

  I just need the escape. Tomorrow we are doing electro shock therapy on the love of my life. We hven't been together long, but already I can’t imagine life without her. And it is looking more and more like I am going to have to. So who cares if I am in an accident? Not like I will be missed by anyone. The only one that cares about me is Beth and it is looking more and more hopeless with every attempt to fix her.

  Chapter Six

  I am out of the city and into farm country when my bike lifts and I fall off it. Looking up I see it floating in the air. I look around and see Brisa and Jason floating next to it. I remove my splintered helmet and toss it at them. Brisa waves a hand and it goes flying. They land but my bike stays hovering. Cutting off my escape. I am a vampire we don’t escape. We kill.

  I am likely half out of my mind, or more, because I launch myself in the air at Brisa. She doesn’t look surprised and waits until we are eye to eye before sending me flying. I flip in the air and land on my feet and a hand. That is going to burn later when I am no longer so hopped up on adrenaline that I feel nothing. Jason, or Samigina since the eyes swirl with power does look shocked.

  They land on the ground, but still my bike is too far away to make a difference. The cows blur together into nothing but black and white blobs as I charge them. Brisa sighs and flicks at me. The wind pushes me back as I use any purchase I can to stay on my feet and push forward. It is a battle of power, one I can’t win. That doesn’t stop me from fighting it with everything I have in me.

  "Fuck you Brisa! Give me my fucking bike back!"

  "No. If you kill yourself Beth will never forgive me. You think I want her hunting my ass to the ends of the earth forever?"

  "Well she's not coming back is she?! They can't fix her! No one can reach her! Not even me!"

  I drop to the ground not fighting anymore. Brisa is paying close attention because the wind stops the second all resistance falls away. I let the tears flow. It is not manly to cry, or so I have been told, but I figure no one will see, no one that cares anyway.

  She walks over standing just above me. I look up. Jason is back. It is not the demon anymore. He doesn’t come closer. Instead tears flow down his face and guilt hangs on him like a cape. So bad it is even in his stance.

  "Is that what you think Brian? Really?"

  Brisa kneels down cupping my face in her hands wiping the tears from my face. They won’t stop though. They just keep flowing, like Niagara Falls. I nod and hang my head breaking contact. I have failed Beth. I don’t deserve comfort.

  "Beth is a fighter Brian. The most stubborn, insanely so, fighter I have ever seen. I am Fae, I have seen my share of willpower, but nothing, and no one, has even come close to what she has inside. It takes someone so strong to host multiple demons without losing herself. To open a portal and send hundreds of them home. To act as a conduit for that. She didn’t give up until she got them home, and that doesn’t even begin to touch her true strength. You know that better than anyone. Don't give up on her. She WILL find her way back to us. It may take longer than we hoped, but she will. When she comes back to us do you want to leave her alone because you weren't brave and strong enough to wait for her?"

  I shake my head no, dry heave for a moment, run out of tears, and sit on my ass drying my face off with my shirt. Brisa is right. I know better than anyone what she has gone through and survived. Not even anything close to normal. Torture as a child, the forced medication and addiction issues, the demonic thing. The list doesn’t end. Yet every time she falls down she gets back up. This time will be no different.

  I look over to Jason. He doesn’t look guilty anymore, he looks suicidal. I know he blames himself. He thinks the possession caused this. I let him think it because I blamed him. It is not right though. I have to correct that assumption.

  I pull my ass up and walk over. Brisa pulls my bike down from the air checking it for damage and floats my helmet over to herself. She stays where I had been sitting knowing this is between Jason and I.

  "Jason it isn’t your fault. This was coming for a while now, a long while. The demons actually gave her more control. She didn’t want you to know but the drugs that blood mage forced on her….there were lasting side effects. She has been fighting this battle since then. I let her keep it to herself because I thought she would work through it. I knew she was losing the battle. I tried to talk to her but…well you know how stubborn she is. It's not your fault. I should never have blamed you. I should be blaming myself for not helping her earlier…"

  Jason hugs me and tears soak my shirt.

  "It isn't your fault either. As you said she is too damn stubborn."

  I nod and we hug it out.

  "Are you boys ready to go home, clean up, eat something, and get back to the secret lair to fix Beth? Charlotte said not to come back before tomorrow and that we are all to attend. So let's get home and get you guys some rest."

  We both nod and let Brisa magic us through the sky to the house Beth and I rent. It is a nice home, we made it ours. I look at the garden, it is a mess. Beth usually tends it, her shifter nature loving side, but she has neglected it lately. I drop down and start pulling weeds. Jason follows suit.

  "When she comes home she will be so pissed to see all these weeds."

  I nod my agreement. Brisa just sighs and stores my bike.

  "I'll make dinner."

  We nod and let her go. We have work to do.

  After consuming more food than I usually do in a week, plus some blood Brisa insists on donating to charge me up, and a full night's sleep I wake up the next morning stable. Stable and still charged with power from my blood intake. Brisa is some potent food. Better if all vamps don’t know. I mentioned that but she insisted we all be at our best when Beth is shocked. If we have to stop her without filling her with bullet holes we need to be strong enough to do so.

  Jason is demon charged; they are riding up close and personal. The eyes kept going from his to theirs and though it we
irds out the rest of us it makes him feel better to have access to their power and opinions without being completely controlled by them.

  "I am intrigued with the thought of seeing inside a vampire den."

  Brisa can’t contain her excitement. It is like a kid in a brand new shop. Everything they ever wanted.

  "It's nothing special. Big houses, manors, properties with multiple smaller homes, cul-de-sac that only allow the vamp family in with underground tunnels to the main house. It looks like every other home. Its décor depends on its owner. Some look more like they should be museums because they are so old all the furniture is considered antiques."

  I can’t believe this is our breakfast conversation before going to fry my girlfriend's brain. It is so…normal. Well normal for us. And maybe that is what Brisa wants. To give us five minutes of semi normalness. I am grateful, even if a bit annoyed to be distracted from my worrying.

  "Most of the Fae homes have furniture made from wood. Carefully sculpted by masters and upholstered by weavers in the clan. We don’t see a lot of outside work. I always enjoy seeing things humans create in different eras. The change with the times. Our pieces are considered classic. They never change. Much like our age and features. Perhaps once every couple thousand years we change our sense of fashion but as a whole we stick to our decisions. Yet humans change things up every ten years…sometimes less! I am very excited to see a home that has survived multiple decades."

  I don’t think it will be as exciting as she thinks. Charlotte keeps things modern and simple. She prefers not to leave anything around that is valuable and can be stolen. She also doesn’t want anyone to derive anything about her personality from her choices in furnishings. So nothing is outstanding. It is simple and clean. Organized and functional. It works. She hasn't been challenged for power yet. No one knows a thing about what she is thinking. She is a clever one.