by K.N. Lee
He remembered the explosion—the submarine, the spooky woman in the black robe, and the unaccomplished spy job. He felt the urge to search his pocket for the artifact but figured it was most likely not there. If he had grabbed it, whoever had undressed him would have seen it and probably taken it.
Did I get the artifact at all? Or was it lost at sea? He searched his mind frantically for an answer, but none came to him.
“Where are my companions?” he asked.
“Let’s talk later. When the doctor clears you, I’ll take you around so you can see where you are. But you were brought into this hospital alone.”
“Have you been taking care of me the whole time?”
Faye raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, I should say thank you…” He donned a fake but friendly smile but could feel the potent drug she’d given him starting to take effect. His eyes felt like they weighed a ton, and her voice seemed to echo in his head. “How long have I been here?”
“Only a couple of days. You have nothing to worry about. Just rest.”
Faye laid him down. Before falling into oblivion, he heard a male voice. It was saying something in a language he didn’t understand, and Faye responded in the same strange language.
The short conversation became quickly heated, and the male voice rose in volume and then spoke in English, “You don’t think I know your origin? You even speak the human’s language. Don’t fool around with me.”
“It’s English, one of the languages used on Earth. And yes, I’m educated and well-traveled. I like the English language, and I use it a lot. But that proves nothing about my origin. I use English to speak with Lorcan because it’s his mother tongue.”
“All right. So pry the information out of him, then, will you?”
“I told you, his condition doesn’t allow for long conversation. He doesn’t seem to remember anything. Memory loss after trauma is very common in humans. I’m amazed he survived the blast.”
“If it’s unlikely he’ll give us any information, terminate him. I don’t want to waste resources.”
“That’s not for you to decide—”
“I’m in charge here. It’s because of me that he’s still breathing.”
Lorcan felt an impact against his bed, and he thought maybe the man had shoved Faye.
He flexed the muscles in his arms but knew he had no hope of moving anytime soon, so he kept his eyes closed.
“He’s injured. He couldn’t help it…”
He felt Faye’s face pushed down against his. The male voice was close. “He couldn’t help it, or you couldn’t help falling for his pretty face? How many times have we had a human being down here who survived? Zero? So you couldn’t help it, could you?”
“I’ll try. When he wakes, I’ll ask him. If he dies, all of your efforts will be in vain.”
“I’m not a man of patience. Wake him up, and I’ll beat the information out of him.”
Lorcan felt his upper body lifted as if someone had grabbed him by the neck.
“That won’t help anything. If he dies, you’ll lose everything,” said Faye.
A pause, and then his body was thrown back onto the bed.
“All right, I’ll give you two more days. Get the info out of him, or I’ll finish you both.”
Lorcan felt some struggling beside him on the bed. He thought Faye was likely trying to push the man away from her.
He tried to move again without success.
Then he heard the unmistakable sound of a slap.
The man chuckled. “One day you’ll crawl to me and beg me to take you, Faye.”
Silence.
Then Lorcan’s consciousness slipped away from him.
Chapter 4
The Key master put the baby angel back on the nest of grass, which he knew now had been created by the female angel to give her child some comfort. He didn’t know if the mother had done it before or after she was attacked. But did it matter?
He fluffed up the grass around the baby. “All right, it was nice meeting you. I don’t get along well with angelic creatures, so let’s just pretend we never met. No hard feelings.”
He stood to leave, but then heard a croaking sound.
“No, you’re not going to cry. That’s not going to work.” He crouched down. “Listen, I don’t do babies. I eat them for breakfast. You should be scared of me.”
“Bababb.” Clap. Clap.
“All right, you’ve got me. I don’t eat babies. But I am a predator. I’ve killed other creatures simply for sport. I don’t eat them because they taste disgusting, but I do enjoy the smell of flesh and fresh blood.”
The baby stared at him and stopped making noises.
“See, you angels can’t handle what I do. You don’t understand, and you don’t appreciate it. I’m going to call this experience a wash.”
He stood.
The baby still didn’t make a sound.
“Now what, you’re not even going to say goodbye?”
Silence.
He shrugged, picked up his precious piece of jade, and walked away.
Then he heard a low growl. He turned around and saw the baby angel still sitting in the grass with the same look as it had had on its face before. The baby wasn’t scared, but it had sensed the creature nearby, which had now emerged from the bush as a gigantic wolf on eight hairy spider legs.
“You are sinfully ugly,” he said to the creature. “You’ve offended my eyes, and the baby angel’s. Do you see the look of disdain on this baby’s face?”
The creature ignored him and crept toward the baby.
He recalled the wounds on the mother angel’s back. They were definitely caused by the claws on those spider legs. He realized now that the mother had hidden her baby from this creature, and he had pulled the baby out in plain sight for the predator to find.
He glanced around. There didn’t seem to be any more spider-things coming. He could handle one. Given it was his fault the baby had been found, he might as well fix his grave mistake.
Shrugging, he put the jade down and darted at the creature, pulling his rock carving knives out as he did so. In the midst of battle, he couldn’t tell which part was which on the creature’s body.
Once he had slain it, he wiped the blood and viscous substances from his hands and the knives on his pants.
He smiled at the baby. “Sorry you had to see that.”
There was no response.
“All right, I know you’re a little scared. I’ll take you away from this blood and gore. But be clear about this—it’s just temporary.”
As he reached to pick up the baby, the ground began to rumble. The rocks beneath his feet shifted slightly. He peered over the edge of the cliff where he had seen the male angel’s body and saw an army of the wolf-spider creatures approaching.
He was a predator, but he was no fighter.
He had no time to stop and think. He grabbed the baby and charged toward higher ground.
The tapping noises of thousands of spider legs climbing up the cliff echoed around him. From above, they looked like ants, but he was sure these creatures could do a lot more damage than ants ever could.
He saw the hillside and thought of the Daimon Gate—the neutral ground of all things. He would take the baby there for protection. He wouldn’t need the protection himself. Not that he disliked the Daimon Gate, but he didn’t they would accept him because he didn’t believe in their true, fair, and neutral moral principles. They had maintained that reputation for thousands of years, and he was going to have to trust them for the sake of the baby.
The Daimon Gate wasn’t far. He didn’t have to turn around to know that the first pack of spider-wolves had climbed to the top of the cliff. But he turned around anyway, facing them as he held the baby in his arms.
And he saw that it was too late to run.
Chapter 5
Lorcan felt a tug at his side. He opened his eyes slightly and gradually regained his bearings. Faye’s face was very close t
o his as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders to lift him up. He opened his eyes wider. She startled, seeing he was awake and her face was much too close to his. If he turned his head sideways, her lips might have touched his own.
Lorcan still couldn’t move. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“Put some clothes on. I need to take you out of here, and you’ll freeze to death in this hospital gown.”
He glanced down at his body and said, “I don’t see any gown.”
She dropped him back onto the bed.
“I needed to take the gown off to put your shirt back on. I’m a nurse. You think I’ve never seen a naked man before?”
“Okay, I’m sorry. I can’t move yet, so can you please help me get my shirt back on?”
She glared at him for a few seconds before lifting his shoulders to pull on his shirt.
“I know you can’t move yet, and that your injury isn’t what caused the immobility. It’s the drug they gave you to help you recover.”
“Like a prison without the bars and shackles! Is there a way to neutralize the effect? An antidote?”
Faye smiled. It was the first time he’d gotten a close look at her beautiful face in full view. Porcelain skin, long and wavy sandy hair, large blue eyes. She wore a tight top of thin material, and layers of a soft weblike material spanned the space between her arms and her body. The material clung tightly to her perfectly toned upper body, flattering every feminine curve. She looked just like a mermaid.
That’s no typical nurse’s uniform, Lorcan thought, clearing his throat to be sure he wasn’t unknowingly drooling.
“There’s an antidote, and I’m going to give it to you now that you’re awake. But you have to push it throughout your body. It will free your muscle movement.”
“Push? You mean, with my thoughts?”
She chuckled. “Yes, believe it or not, that’s how it works. Use your mind to circulate it throughout your body.”
“I was just kidding. If I could will my way out of here, I would do that instead!”
“It’s how our medicine works. Your human makeup is very different from ours. If you circulate the drug, your body will take what is acceptable and useful.”
“I take it you’re not human. May I ask where I am? It’s okay if you’re not allowed to tell me.”
Faye smiled. But he hated to see the sadness hidden in her smile.
“I can tell you after we get out of here. Will you take the drugs? I’m not supposed to give them to you, but I disagree with them holding you captive.”
He closed his eyes. “Okay, jab me!”
He felt a prick at the jugular on his neck, and then the sensation of a cool liquid flowing through his veins.
The door of the room slid open suddenly. Faye startled and stepped away from the bed. “Doctor, he was cold, so I took the liberty of giving him back his clothes.”
A seven-foot-tall man with sandy hair, a fair complexion, and blue eyes walked in. He wore a long white coat that reminded Lorcan of a lab coat.
“Yes, I was cold, so I asked her for help,” Lorcan said.
The man looked at Faye, then back at Lorcan.
“She’s supposed to follow my orders, and my orders only.” He approached Faye. She backed away, her back pressing against the glass wall. The lazy fish floating behind the glass scooted away in a hurry. The doctor flexed his wrist and punched a red button on a shell-shaped control panel.
“No…please don’t,” Faye whimpered.
Outside the glass, Lorcan saw the immense shadow of a creature closing in from a distance. It looked like a great white shark swimming toward them. He did his best to circulate the drug throughout his body.
The doctor slammed Faye’s body against the wall and then reached his hand up toward the ceiling. Faye didn’t cry but bit her lip and stared straight into the doctor’s eyes as he lifted her from the ground.
“One day you will pay for what you’re doing!”
“Well, I’m afraid you won’t live to see that day.”
Lorcan scrambled off the bed and landed on the floor. The drug hadn’t made its way to his legs yet.
When the doctor turned around and saw him on the floor, he dropped Faye and, crouching, turned toward Lorcan. “What have we here? Are you so strong that you can snap out of the drug yourself, or did she give you the antidote? Either way, I’ve been thinking my tiger might be hungry. I think he’d be satisfied with you as his lunch.”
A tray of medical equipment rained down on him as Faye grabbed the tray and swung it as hard as she could at the doctor’s head. The strike didn’t cause him significant harm. He winced, more from discomfort than from pain, and turned his head toward Faye.
Lorcan grabbed a scalpel from the ground. Using one hand to prop up his body, he grabbed the doctor from behind with his other hand, pulling him to the floor. In one swift move, he slit the doctor’s throat with the scalpel. Blood spurted from the wound. The doctor toppled over, staring up at the ceiling with dead eyes.
Blood had spattered on Faye’s clothes, and her body shook with fear. Biting her lips and ignoring the tears streaming down her face, she darted toward Lorcan.
“We have to get out of here.”
“You go. My legs aren’t working yet. And I’m too heavy for you to carry.”
Outside the glass window, drawn by the stench of blood, the shark smashed its jaws against the glass over and over, baring its sharp teeth. Unable to bite its way in, it turned around and started slamming the side of its muscular body against the glass.
Lorcan felt the whole room shudder with the impact of the attack.
He heard a haunting sound, and then, from the dark water in the distance, a school of sharks swam toward them.
Chapter 6
The Key master clutched the baby angel tightly in his arms and charged up the hill. Behind him, packs of wolves on spider legs had swarmed to the top of the cliff. They didn’t look like ants now but more like hungry, menacing predators.
He put the baby down to the ground quickly and gathered some small rocks, arranging them around her. “I’m afraid I can’t take you to the Daimon Gate. I might not be able to take care of you at all.”
He picked up a black rock and jabbed his knife into it. “This is a common safety lock,” he said to the baby, not expecting her to understand. “If I can’t get back to you, someone with good intentions toward you will be able to unlock it.
He didn’t look to see if the baby responded. He concentrated solely on the key. He had made these hundreds of times. He had his safety key with him now as well, and he could go. But he would not leave the baby unprotected.
The rock had formed a round talisman shape, and he injected his energy into it. It glowed in response.
The spider-wolves were racing toward hism. He needed more time. He blew gently on the key in his palms. It glowed once more.
Patience, he reminded himself. He couldn’t afford to make a mistake now.
He glanced up quickly at the coming wolves and then looked back down at the key. It glowed again, and then its halo simmered down.
Done. He held the key in his palm and slammed it down to the ground in front of the baby. A white light appeared on the earth, encircling the baby.
He smiled. The baby angel would be safe. Now he could leave.
He reached into his pocket for his own key but felt the hard push of spider legs at his back. The sharp spines on its legs dug into his flesh and tore his gown. He knew they could easily gut him from behind.
His key dropped to the ground, and the spider wolf kicked it away from him with one of its legs.
Warm blood spurted from his wounds. For the first time in the several hundred years of his life, he feared that choosing this human form had been a mistake. He felt his end was near.
Through blurry vision, he saw the spider-wolves pushing against the safety lock he’d put around the baby.
They couldn’t get to it, and he smiled in victory. He was the key master.
He was the best, and no creature could take that away from him.
As he enjoyed his last victory, another spider leg stabbed at him. He fell to the ground and lay still. He looked at the baby angel in the circle of light. She was happy, smiling, and making cooing noises.
Did she know her parents had just died? Probably not.
His vision started to dim. He knew he was dying. He didn’t know why he cared, but he hoped someone would take care of the baby angel. He hoped someone would care enough to unlock the safety key.
Then something exploded. A thunderous sound exploding simultaneously with the body of one of the wolf spiders.
He squinted. The baby angel looked at him, smiling and clapping her hands in glee.
Another thunderous noise—along with another wolf-spider.
He had never liked the annoying sounds babies made, but he loved them now. The baby angel cooed, giggled, and clapped her hands again and again. And one by one, the wolves exploded into nothingness. The rest of the pack realized what was happening. They turned and fled.
The baby continued to clap, and the retreating wolves exploded as they ran.
The baby angel no longer needed him, and he couldn’t see anyway. He closed his eyes. He could leave now. Forever.
Chapter 7
Lorcan pushed the dead doctor under the lab bench and turned toward the shaking Faye.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Faye shook her head. “We killed… No one has the right to kill…”
“It’s not we. It’s me. Killing isn’t okay, but if I hadn’t done it, he would have fed us to the sharks. We have to get out of here in one piece.”
Faye nodded and wiped her tears away. The room shook whenever a shark hit the glass wall. Lorcan wasn’t sure how many more body slams the room could take before the glass cracked, and the walls gave in.
He had no intention of being the sharks’ lunch. His weakened legs were wobbly, and he wasn’t confident he’d win a swimming competition with the sharks, but if he could hold them back, Faye might be able to get away.
